Call of the Abyss
by Freefan1412
Summary: Judai lived and Judai died. However the Herald is destined to be reborn and so a Judai lives in a world praising Fusion, where Duel Monsters and duels were never considered a game, where raising Judai soon becomes the least of Yubel's worries. -character, not duel focused; worldbuilding; Invasion violence-
1. I: A boy lives

Part I

* * *

A boy lives

* * *

There is a knock at the door. Ten year old Judai tilts his chair forward and tries very hard to pretend interest in the textbooks piled up on his desk. "Enter."

Quietly, the door opens, revealing a man in prime and proper black, back straight. Judai knows the man is capable of smiling, but it takes a lot of effort on his part and lately whenever he tries to get the wizened face to move into something that isn't stern, he gets told that it isn't proper, that Judai is too old for childish antics, that he has to keep up appearance, that Judai has more important things to do.

Judai doesn't think there are many things more important than making a man who he has seen more of in his life than both his parents combined smile, but no one ever listens to him.

"Young Master, the Master and the Mistress expect your presence for tea," he says, bowing and holding the door open in a way that makes it clear Judai is to go now.

Judai is already out his chair and past the door before Kageyama stopped speaking. A hand lands on his shoulder before he can go running through the mansion.

The old butler gives Judai an expressionless look that nonetheless says a lot.

Judai wants to sigh and groan, but knows it would only gain him more disapproval. Instead he straightens his shirt, imagines his head is tied to the ceiling by a string and that he has a board stuck to his spine. The butler lets go of him and Judai likes to imagine a glimmer of approval in the gray eyes as Judai strides through the mansion in his best imitation of dignity and nobility.

His parents await him in the lounge, his mother in a white blouse and an elegant skirt, his father in what Judai deems a stiff suit. Both smile when they see him and Judai is far too elated at their presence and their attention on him to care about the rarity of both. His mother invites him to the seat next to her and puts an arm around his shoulder, a gesture that is the closest to a hug in their family.

Judai tries very hard to sit straight and serious and proper as his teacher has taught him and to not wrap both his arms around his mother's warm body. But no, he is grown up, he is an adult soon and is beyond stuff like hugs, stuffing his face with cookies and the like no matter how much he wants to.

"Toru tells me you have not been taking your studies seriously," his father begins.

The butterflies in his belly become colder. It is childish to throw a look of betrayal at their butler, so to not disappoint his parents, he doesn't. But he really wants to.

"I'll do better," Judai promises, smiling widely, but his father is not amused, eyes unimpressed by Judai's sincerity.

"So you say every time."

A cookie is stolen from the coffee table for comfort and to hide a childish pout. "I always try, but it just doesn't get better. And it's just – economy's not very interesting."

"I don't want to hear your excuses," Father says shortly, putting his cup of tea down with a click. Judai winches. "Your brother -"

Mother cuts in with a "Dear" and the painful lecture Judai wants to hide from never comes. Rather, his father smooths his expression down into something less reflexively scolding, sighing in a way that seems constructed like the art hanging on the wall.

"The material in your studies does not capture your attention," his father surmises what various assessments from various experts concluded. "Perhaps that cannot be helped. Your talents lie elsewhere and it is those talents that ought to be furthered."

Judai blinks. It's the first time anyone other than his brother and Yubel have said he has talent and mean it – that it comes from his father… even more so, with _pride_ , for him, only him, and just _huh_?

His mother smiles down at him and squeezes him to her. Her smile always has fewer sharp edges than his father's and right now it's warm and relieved. "Do you remember the gentleman that has recently been our guest and the subject he tested you on?"

His parents are always busy around the world and since last year his brother is included in that too (even though they're the same age), so Judai lives alone in the mansion most of the time. He doesn't go to school, doesn't have friends, and is too young (useless) to be involved in their family business. The man that stayed in the mansion had been introduced over distant and impersonal notifications and Judai had been told that the man was important and searched for people who had the potential to go to an elite school and that his parents had inquired if he may test Judai.

"The man who gave me duel monster cards? And that duel?" Judai hadn't known it was a test until after the fact, though.

His mother nods, her smile becoming brighter. "Two days ago, an invitation and recommendation arrived at your father's office." She puts both her hands on Judai's face, runs one through his hair. His mother is being more affectionate than in all but his foggiest memories, ever since the time that it became clear that Judai doesn't share his brother's talents (or conscientious work ethic)."You have scored the highest results recorded and Duel Academia would be honored to have you."

The world flips. "...What?"

"'Pardon me'," his mother corrects mildly, before expanding: "Duel Academia is a school of highest education. You know that it is the most influential organization the world, specializing in duelling and spatial investments. It's education in duelling is top class, its ideal sophisticated and with your enrolment, your advancements and talent will represent our Eriksen family. There can be no greater honour." She glows, proud and happy in a way Judai has never _ever_ been able to make her before.

She is praising him. She is saying there is something _Judai_ can do. That Judai isn't a disappointment and burden. Even though Judai doesn't understand much more, he hears that. He wonders if this is what flying feels like.

Father won't lecture him, his parents are proud. "When is it starting? Do I leave or is a teacher coming here? Johan is coming tomorrow! Can I surprise him with this?"

"Your plane is going this evening," his father says promptly, and Judai deflates. But only a little. "Toru will see to it that you are ready and accompany you to the flight. Upon arrival, there will be someone waiting for you." Straightening imaginary crinkles out of his clothes, his father gets up. "Your brother has already been informed." An expressive stare is levelled at Judai. "Academia is a different place from your private education. There will be children of other families. Do not forget that outsides of these walls, life is a competition. Do not lose and embarrass yourself and us."

Judai stands as well, hearing the usually both dreaded and longed for dismissal, lowering his head. He's still smiling widely though. "Yes, Father."

"See to it. My flight goes in an hour, so I will be leaving now. It goes without mentioning, but I expect only the best of reports, son."

Judai's excitement doesn't ebb away. "Yes, Father."

With a nod, the patriarch turns his back to his wife and son, the door being held open for him and closing smoothly behind his back.

Judai's mother empties her cup of tea, putting the fine tableware to the side with a soft click before she rises as well. Judai fights off long expected disappointment. She too straightens her clothes with practised motions before she presses a formal kiss to Judai's cheek. "Your father is a busy man. Forgive him that he can not stay to see you off."

"Does that mean you will stay?" Judai asks despite knowing better.

"I'm expected for dinner. I'm afraid I don't have the time either."

There is nothing to do against the disappointment he feels, but it isn't as bad as usual, even when he can't see his brother tomorrow.

Judai's going to leave the mansion for the first time in months, for the first time in years for more than just a vacation or public appearance. It would take a lot more to break his mood.

Yubel doesn't share his excitement. In fact, she looks angry as she stares at the door where his mother is leaving through and where Kageyama is no longer waiting, doubtlessly to see Judai's father off.

Judai skips through the hallways, making a detour past the kitchen to tell his friends on the staff, and tilts his head at her. "What's wrong?"

One more impressive glare in the vague direction of Judai's parents later, Yubel offers her hand. Judai takes it. Yubel smiles, making Judai smile as well, but it doesn't hold long, because she soon frowns again and only at Judai's poking does she admit that she wishes Judai would not leave the mansion yet.

Judai is very glad that the matter seems to be set already and that there is nothing Yubel can do about it anymore – because she would. She does a lot of things – things that go by unnoticed simply because in all of Judai's life, only one person other than himself has ever seen her.

Of course his relief at her being unable to do her job properly doesn't go by her and she is snappish for the rest of the day. Judai calls it sulking. Yubel says she wishes Judai would make her job a bit easier by having some concern for his own safety.

"I don't know what your problem is," Judai tells her on the plane to his new life. "I'm just going to school. Everyone does that, right? Now I'm too."

"It's a _Duel_ Academia," she says in the way that she sometimes does, like it's perfectly obvious what she doesn't like and could explain why that is if Judai wants to listen to his and her history. (Judai never does. He has dreams of other Judais sometimes without them being triggered by stories and he always wakes up scared even though he _can't remember_.)

* * *

Judai's excitement is joined by anticipation and both last upon arrival not over two weeks.

There is a variety of lessons he has to attend, the majority focusing on the basics of duelling and polymerization. About half the lessons are practical, but with everyone having the same deck, it is only slightly more simulating than the dry lessons, where Judai gathered very quickly that they don't have anything to teach him – not after he looked over the material and course books and knew all the material as though he had only had to be reminded of it.

(Yubel says that isn't accurate, since Judai hadn't _known_ the material, thus it was not something to _remember_ in the strict sense of the term, but that his instincts and instinctual habits cultivated over more than one lifetime cover said material with room to spare. It is very unlikely, Judai is told drily, that the teachers can teach him anything about fusing.)

Another good part of his time is taken by physical activity. Having never gone much out of the mansion, and definitely not for jogging or swimming in the ocean or climbing cliffs or fighting-according-to-rules-with-others-and-a-jury-which-apparently-is-called-sparring, Judai finds himself at the bottom of the class and the last to cross the finishing line.

It is interesting at first, a challenge and _fun_ and new and _exciting_ in a way that only things that aren't what Kageyama and his parents call dignified are. It takes some time to get used to being sweaty and feeling sick from the effort, but soon the novelty wears off, his body adapts to the demanding practice, and those lessons too become _boring_. It's always the _same_. Nothing new. The same exercises, the same shouting of the instructor, the same courses.

What Judai had thought to be the saving grace at first, one lesson a week each on XYZ and Synchro Summoning methods that Judai had only ever heard of before are theory only. The lessons don't go beyond the basics, focus not on the mastery of the summoning, but on breaking it. Judai prefers Fusion, but the other two interest him and if only for that he'd have liked to try them. He can't even get any cards for them anywhere on the campus, so he can't sneakily duel Yubel either.

All that vicious arrogance by his peers starts to get annoying quickly too.

(That's conceited, Yubel teaches with a sneer at his fellow students. Baseless and useless. Fusion is only superior if its wielder is and while Judai is, he is the exception not the rule. Anyone who wants true mastery must earn it and cannot demand it.)

Every student is given a standard deck and they are allowed to make small adjustments to it and it's those decks they have to use in most of the school's duels, but everyone is also encouraged to build their own decks from scratch. Most base theirs still on the Academia provided arch-types and strategies.

Judai trades for rarely used HERO cards, sometimes writes to his parents for a special one. It's those personal decks that are used in the ranking duels and the duels that count for most. Those duels are held with a regularity for the entire Academia, once a week after assembly and speeches. Judai hasn't lost a single one.

He is proud of that and hopes it is that that reaches his parents instead of the many times instructors have caught him sleeping in their lessons. Two months in, not even the thoughts of his parents hearing about it is enough incentive to stay awake through them.

The other students don't have it as easy as him and have to work day and night to get better results. (Understandable since those who don't pass the tests face...punishment/make up lessons. Judai heard they are hell.) He is still alone. No one has time to lie in the sun with him, no one wants to duel just for fun with him without any grades on the line. No one can see spirits. No one even cares about their cards.

Academia isn't all that nice at all, but it is still better than being locked up in the mansion day in any out with stacks of material to study. Academia gives him more freedom and more independence than Judai ever had before. He even got his first sunburn!

It's not paradise, but Judai can see what his parents like about it. Academia is just as busy as they are. _T_ _wo peas in a pod,_ he grouches one day, kicking a stone on the hard 'beach' as he skips classes for the first time.

...he misses Johan. He misses Kageyama. He misses seeing his parents, even rarely as he used to. He can't go see them, they can't (don't) come see him….he is lonely. He doesn't want to go back home either, though, not really.

In the beginning he shared a dorm with two other people, but Judai was quickly promoted to Obelisk Blue where no one has time for talking and the air is so filled with tension it's stifling. There's nothing wrong about being driven and Judai is almost envious that everyone else has a goal to strive for, united for an ideal. But it just isn't him. To his credit, he tried to get caught up in the enthusiasm and determination but it didn't stick.

Wanting to unite the worlds, creating an ideal state of reality is nice and all, but he just can't understand why they are all stressing out about it.

Judai just doesn't get it.

(Yubel is mostly silent when they talk about that, her gaze sharp as she takes everything in, and pensive. Only in hindsight will Judai notice her behaviour as odd.)

Half a year in, Judai has his classes adjusted to advanced courses, finds an Elemental HERO Prisma washed up on the beach and, on Yubels suggestion (another thing he will only notice later) sends the monster to all but the most complex lessons in his stead.

His days of skipping class and lazing days away under the gray sky have begun.

* * *

TBC


	2. I: shadow of reality

Part I

* * *

Shadow of reality

* * *

It's carelessness that gets him caught and that sets the beginning of the end in motion.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here," a voice slowly reaches into Judai's darkened consciousness. "Skipping classes, are we?" Something pokes him in the side, and it is with sleepy mutterings that Judai cracks an eye open, the blinding sun piercing his eyes. A shadow falls over him, something long swishing in the air like hair, something bulky that might be a duel disk on one arm...and a skirt?

Judai bolts up.

One of the teachers is standing over him, frame dark against the sun. Hands on hips, the woman's expression is bitingly irritated and thoroughly exasperated. "Do you have an explanation, Eriksen-kun?"

Judai stares at her, the gears in his head only slowly starting to turn again.

A woman. A _teacher_. Found him lazing around. Approached him while sleeping. Without him _or Yubel_ noticing.

Something very much like a smirk curls the young woman's lips, sharply amused. "I for my part would every much like to know how it is that Eriksen Judai-kun happens to be present in Takaga-sensei's lessons and here at the same time."

Judai's brain creaks to a halt. "...er."

Helplessly and with a pang of apprehension, his eyes dart to Yubel. Who hovers to the side, watching the woman with sharp, narrowed, contemplative eyes, so deep in thought she doesn't even notice his mental tug. Her surprise as she observes the teacher is so apparent, it floors Judai all over again.

Sensei's eyes dart to the nothingness Judai is staring at, then back to his face. "Spirits or no spirits, this is a school. You are here to learn. If you are not willing, then this is not the right place for you." She stares him down, hazel eyes reprimanding and stern and hard as rocks.

Judai _gapes_ at the teacher.

She, in turn, stares at him for a long time before pinching the bridge of her nose in a gesture of put upon exasperation, muttering something like _why did I expect_ and _typical_ under her breath in a move that stands startling in contrast to her steel-and-stone reputation.

"I'm not even going to ask for how often you skip classes," she eventually states slowly, pronouncing the words as other people would a prison sentence. "I'm not even going to demand you stop as no one can tell if its the real you sitting and studying. So here's the deal." She skewers him with a piercing glare, something dark and calculating behind her eyes. "It just so happens that we have a couple simulations running to accurately grade selected students for their potential and their area of expertise. You're going to come with me, right now so long as I'm sure I'm not talking to a stand-in, and you're going to take that test. If the results aren't…adequate..." the teacher's lips quirk without humour. "Well, they had _better_ be."

Judai swallows an eep.

The teacher turns and leaves, her long light hair blowing in the wind, and Judai scrambles up to follow lest she find reason to get on him for that too. As they walk through the compound, first over the difficult terrain then through the buildings, apprehension is knotting more and more in his gut.

Judai doesn't care much that he's been caught skipping, but he's been caught when Prisma was standing in for him.

Judai swallows hard.

Yubel remains silent. She has withdrawn inside, yet Judai can still feel her attention drilling into the teacher's back, like a puzzle she can't figure out. And that doesn't make Judai nervous at _aaaaaalllllll._

If he didn't know better, he'd say the teacher lady was amused to see him squirm, but the teachers don't have a humorous bone in their bodies (which is part of what makes them and their lessons so boring).

She leads him into a part of Academia Judai had never been to before, strong doors sliding out of their way only after she slid her identifications and palm over a scanner. To distract himself, Judai's gaze is drifting left and right, peeking through half opened doors, over what seems to be delicate electronic and medical equipment. Men and women in white pass them in the corridor, some ignoring them and others sliding their eyes over Judai in a thoroughly unsettling way.

His nerves spiral high before long and words bubble out, "...er, Sensei...do you, I mean can you see them?… See spirits?"

Her intimidating eyes dart to him without breaking stride. "No." And her lips quirk, as though Judai doesn't get a joke, as though its a joke she can't laugh at even though she wants to.

Judai, the next words already on his tongue, swallows them as he process the reply. His mouth hangs open. "But - "

Sensei comes to a sharp stop, holding a hand out in front of him for emphasis.

One of the many scientists seems to want more than stare, blocking their way.

He holds a white clipboard, half-moon glasses sitting low on his nose. "Tenjoin-sensei, what an unexpected pleasure. What brings you here?" Grey eyes scanning over Judai make it more than apparent that he has a good idea.

Sensei smiles a razor sharp, blizzard cold. "Eriksen-kun wished to try for extra credit. It seemed fitting to accommodate him by letting him try his hand on the SAF classifications, even if it is unscheduled."

The scientist's focus runs over Judai again, even more unsettling, lips curling in some form of a smile. "Indeed. Let us hope Eriksen-kun is up to the challenge. We would hate to loose such a promising asset." To Judai's teacher he adds, "you have such high expectations, Tenjoin-sensei, that sometimes we worry there will be no students left once you are through with them."

Sensei shifts her weight to something more intimidating, stare narrowed and hard. "I am a teacher," she says as though the man's very presence insults her. "It is my duty to test the potential of my students and recommend courses to them. I understand your point however, and I agree. It is most disturbing how many freshmen lack the qualities this school strives for."

"Those qualities can be taught," returns the man, sniffing. "And not all must meet the SAF standard. Those are the exceptions, if you remember."

"To settle for anything other than the best result is degrading to both the students and the teacher. I refuse to waste my time on useless cases." Sensei shrugs impassively, ruthlessly. "We must agree to disagree then, clearly."

Flinty eyes glow with scorn. "So we shall." One last look is given to Judai. "Best of luck, Eriksen-kun. You shall need it." With that, the white clad man (snake) hurries along to catch up with his colleagues.

Once Judai watched him disappear around a corner, he can breathe easier. The air seems to visibly melt from its frosty quality.

"Take care, Judai-kun, to never get to close to that man," Sensei's voice says quietly in his ear, startling him.

Something unreadable is in her eyes, but quickly enough she is back to being the Ice Queen of a teacher the student body named her for. Judai is startled that he can almost see the walls of ice rise around her person. (For an instant, the temptation to check what she looks like with Yubel's eyes is almost too great. An aura clear and blue like ice he imagines, yet for some reason cold doesn't fit in that image. It should be flames.)

"That was a member of our science division. Perhaps you have heard of them," she continues, swirling on her heels and setting a pace Judai is hard pressed to keep up with without running. (Yet he hurries, because the thought of being left stranded down here without her is suddenly terrifying.) "They do not have much to do with the majority of our facility, yet they are unquestionably one of the most important parts. It is them who develop our duel disks, and them who research the best ways to meet our needs. It will be them too who will analyse your data and determine your future specialization."

Oh. Right. Well, what a way to be encouraging. Judai suspects he doesn't have a say in that future at all. "What specialization? And I don't remember volunteering for extra credit."

Sensei shoots him a sharp look from the corner of her eyes, not turning her head, back ramrod straight as she marches. "If you know what it good for you, you will agree that you have. As for your specialization." Her eyes are hard yet not cold and weirdly easy to read. And what Judai reads behind that front is startling; concern.

Judai feels like he is standing at the bottom of a hill, yet he should know - _needs_ to know right now- what lies on the other side. For the first time since Judai was so shockingly awakened from his afternoon nap, Yubel reacts to him. She takes his observations and reacts with alarm.

It's as though he is blinded with blinkers. What Sensei said is a threat, yet it is not to that that Yubel reacted. Sensei is a demon, yet for some reason instinct tells him she is safer than anyone else around in this school basement. Because she isn't really a demon – but why does she pretend?

"We're here." Sensei pronounces, drawing Judai's attention to a door just like any other settled in the pure white walls. It slides open to reveal a middle sized room. It looks like a control centre of some kind, terminals lining a wall, another wall replaced by a see-through window to an arena below and half a dozen men and women in white bowed over screens.

They all look up as the door hisses, staring for a moment, before they return to their screens. All but one. This one too glances over Judai like a viper its prey, before settling on Tenjoin-sensei.

Sensei puts a hand on Judai's shoulder, half turning him to direct him at a set of stairs he hadn't noticed before. "Go down there and follow the instructions." Her voice is low, hard. The feeling of blindness is joined by deafness because it feels that he should have heard a lot more than what sensei said.

He makes to leave, but not without throwing one more glance over his shoulder before he disappears down the stairs, watching the teacher and the scientist and the room: Sensei's squared shoulders (battle ready, something whispers, the example, the role model, the one without weakness, the face to the outside face – a stab of familiarity), the scientist (waxen skinned, glasses, thin wrists, obsessively neat, quicksand hidden in plain sight), data rushing over the screens (statistics, profiles, photos, calculations).

Judai sees, and will remember.

This is a fight, and he will not lose.

(To lose means to fail. To die. To sacrifice. To regret. This, he has known since his first breath, has not needed the teachers to teach him here. He will never lose.)

Down the stairs a sterile waiting room offers banks to sit. One of those is occupied, a boy of Judai's age just changing out of a hospital-like robe. On a shelf to the side clean ones waited. A paper with instructions hangs on the wall and copies lie on the benches. Looking at them tells him that he must get changed too.

The other boy flicks a glance at him when he enters, sharp and unnaturally cold aura clouding the air around him. He makes Judai pause for a moment, the hairs at the back of his neck rising. However Judai gets clearly dismissed when the boy turns back to snapping buttons on his shirt close.

 _Nice to meet you too_ is on the tip of his tongue, but self-preservation instincts catch up with him before he can dig his grave a little deeper still. Instead Judai dismisses the boy in turn in favour of changing. And would you look at that, there were even instructions on how to do it and on what to do with the things in that box that go along with the robe.

Judai has seen things like them before. In a hospital when pulse and stuff are taken, only these look slightly more complex.

Once he finished changing, he sets two of those things to his temple agreeing with Yubel's sneer of disdain (said sneer does nothing to hide the unease lurking in her demeanour, which alarms Judai in more ways than one, but he can't ask her, not here and not now). They seem to be made of metal or something like it and are cold and uncomfortable to the touch. Two come to his wrists, four to his ankles, twelve to his back for which he has to (unfortunately) ask the other boy for help, and fourteen to his chest. When he is finished, he feels ten pounds heavier than before and about as agile as a tortoise.

With a mental shrug Judai sits down to wait, fiddling with his duel disk and deck, though he has the stupid feeling that for what is coming he won't be allowed to keep them. His HERO's wink at him from their cards. Some of them are exchanging speaking glances with Yubel (who happens to be still inside him; Jduai has a feeling if he ever had to explain how the things he sees work, he'd lose most of them at the point where the material world tends to be unimportant/invisible/see-through), which doesn't escape him but the meaning of which does. It's kind of annoying that they do that sometimes, but Judai hasn't yet asked.

"Number 51. Eriksen Judai-kun." A speaker announces after what feels hours (the other boy is long since gone), and a white door at the other side of the room glides open like the maw of a crocodile or the gates to damnation.

Judai wouldn't be Judai if he didn't enter with mild and interested curiosity, confident to brave everything that lays behind it and have fun while he's at it.

* * *

That night, when Judai sleeps an uneasy, exhausted rest, Yubel steals away, gliding through doors and walls and security as though they don't exist, seeking out a specific presence. One that she is rather surprised to ever see again. Even more surprised to see again this quickly and entirely unchanged.

The human doesn't jump when Yubel materializes.

Her personal like and dislike aside, this human never was like the countless sheep Yubel doesn't even bother to remember who would have had a panic attack.

"Explain." Yubel cuts to the chase without so much a greeting, her wings flaring impatiently and designed to intimidate on habit alone. In her mind she has been running contingencies since she laid eyes on this human in the afternoon. Judai _can not_ be found this easily. Not even by an ally. A friend.

The human woman dips her head, her features twisting in a way that Yubel has learned to read as irony. "Because this is Duel Academia," she says, drily.

When Yubel stares at her unimpressed, she continues, sighing, "to me it's been only eight years. I knew of course when I chose to travel past the borders of our world to continue my studies that I might slip into zones where time runs differently." Her gaze lowers and saddens, coming to rest on her closed hand on her desk. The many papers splayed on it."I knew, as we all knew then, that we would never see Judai again, that I would never be able to return home once I left. You know that I did. And I travelled, as was the plan. It felt longer than six years, but according to my best calculations it really had been only that long."

She meets Yubel's gaze in a habitual way that is almost uneasy to Yubel. Humans aren't comfortable enough around her to do so usually. "Then two years ago I stumbled over this world, found that it had a Duel Academia and couldn't resist. Imagine my shock when I saw Judai's face greet me from the list of my students this semester. Knowing him as I do, it didn't take long to piece together that the Judai sitting in my lessons wasn't really Judai, as you might imagine." She chuckles with more irony, but the look she gives Yuble is questioning. "For some reason I always had the impression that this reincarnation business was a thing spanning aeons and not closing to full circle in lifetimes – mine or that of a more long living species."

There is no reason why Yubel should reply to that. This woman may not bear harmful intentions towards Judai, but any information given out on him when he can be found in his most vulnerable state – as a child - is not a risk worth taking. On the other hand... "Judai is born when he is needed."

This woman saw once already what manner of things occur when Judai is around and knows better to take it as anything but a warning. The title King of Darkness is not given to anyone and not for just any reason. Not even King of Gentle Darkness. Judai is an omen, a herald of strife that is yet to become apparent. The people of old, those with memories spanning ages and universes did indeed know what they were talking about when they gave him titles, names.

Speaking of...Yubel floats over to the window, her three eyes gazing through the glass and taking in the giant complex of the school stretching out below. It reminds her of the castle she and Judai lived in, a long time ago. A castle build by a King, for many following Kings, and for siege and war.

"What did you hope to accomplish, making Judai take that... _exam_." The word curls around her tongue, disdain dripping from her lips, only hinting at the anger and ruthless calculation this afternoon caused in her.

In the nightly reflection of the window, Tenjoin Asuka's easy to read expression, nostalgic and melancholy, shuts down. She _is_ good for a human, and experienced, but Yubel is better and can still clean information just by looking at her. The Ice Queen of Obelisk Blue. A strong willed human, fierce and fire, a flaming arrow. "I can't accomplish anything." She admits, looking away pained.

The urge to throttle the woman by the throat until she spills makes its (late) first appearance.

"I can't accomplish anything," the damnable mortal woman repeats firmly, "but Judai can."

Yubel _stills._ "If you want him -"

" _I_ don't want him for anything." The woman snaps, offended. "I was _there –_ at Academia, in Dark World, and then when humanity took steps we weren't supposed to take! You don't need to tell _me_ that Judai isn't to be used!" She takes a deep breath, visibly forcing herself to calm down even when she still speaks through gritted teeth. " _I_ don't want Judai. But if others find out about him they will. In this place, they will. You _saw_ what its like behind the facade."

Indeed Yubel saw. Yubel saw a whole lot else too in her time here, and yet it's not enough. She doesn't know everything. And that's _dangerous._ The problem is that she can't assess if it is more dangerous to keep Judai here and gain more information to evaluate _how dangerous,_ or to leave without it. "Judai will leave, sooner or later. Do tell, Tenjoin Asuka, what has this place hidden that makes _you_ not want _Judai_ around."

 _Aim and hit_ , straight to the core without regard. Of course Yubel noticed what lies under the woman's pretty words. She is the Guardian. Seeing such things is what had gained her the approval for the station – and that was before she had been changed.

Tenjoin Asuka is scared. She wants Judai gone from here, as she said. She is more than willing to provide Yubel with information to get her results.

The human's jaw pushes stubbornly forward, but doesn't deny it.

"I know _exactly_ what Judai is capable of." Tenjoin repeats, licking her lips. "If this Academia continues on the way it is, then... This school is filled with my students. I have a responsibility to them. Those that I can remove, I remove. It's safer for them. Judai must leave for it to be safer for _everyone_."

"The direction Academia is heading worries you so?" Yubel voices the pointed question, coolly raising an eyebrow. "I recognize prepping for war when I see it but that is not all that's going on here, is it?"

Tenjoin nods stiffly, her hair bobbing with the motion. "I'm trying my best to stop it, but it seems I'm the only one who cares to try. I never noticed before how one-sided people become when they are told what they do is for a greater goal." Bitterly, she adds, "or what they are capable of when they believe themselves to be right."

Yubel almost smiles, but it wouldn't have been a nice smile. "Humans tend to believe that when they are part of something bigger, they too are something superior. That it makes them stronger, better, lets them forget the utter shortness of their lives. That it gives them _justice._ Typical, truly, of a race limited to one line of perception."

Mortal eyes of the more perceptive kind if just as limited eye Yubel flatly. "Whatever the cause, everyone is caught up in a one track state. The mind of the masses can become like a whirlpool. Doing as told, high on emotions transmitted through group pressure, and once things start it'll be too late to change that. I'm trying, but I'm alone and there is only so much I can do. I'm sorry, but If I can't change Academia, Judai can't be here. If the mindset stays confrontational, Judai mustn't be here. There would be nothing left."

"Agreed." Yubel flares her wings, watching how they completely block out the light shining behind her. Her three eyes close.

* * *

TBC


	3. I: Unconditonal

Part I

* * *

Unconditional

* * *

Eriksen Johan is a precocious child.

With his quiet nature, crystal blue eyes and soft light brown hair, he makes an ideal impression on highly expectant strangers. There is nothing offensive about him. He is polite, kind, his words insightful and even wise. For a child his age, he is well versed in the ways of politics and business, learning what he is told even when it doesn't hold his interest, avoiding conflict and confrontation with soft and polite words.

Putting him side by side with his brother, with Judai's dark hair and dark eyes, it is hard to believe they are twins. Their apparent differences are only highlighted to observers when they understand that not even their parents know what to do with Johan's brother, who is always one step out of rhythm with the rest of the world, who uses the same words but might as well speak a different language for all that people understand him.

Johan knows his parents love him and care for them both. It is just that they don't quite know how to show it and Judai in turn doesn't know how to be anyone but who he is. It hurts Johan to see the tries and failures and he always attempts his best to speak to both parties on the behalf of the other. Before Johan knew it, he has become the translator.

Before he knew it too, he has become the favorite to inherit the family business - even though he is only ten. Johan didn't care about that then, he doesn't care about it now, he only wanted that his family could understand each other. That's why he went to travel with his parents (or travel as his parents told him) while Judai was made to study at home. And though it made him unhappy to be separated from Judai when, he has remained quiet about it.

Which is why when he had been told in his father's proud lettering that Judai was accepted at Duel Academia, that he has agreed to go, and from the other side of the conversation that Judai was just as happy to go, it had given Johan hope. That they could understand each other; that Judai could start to learn that not everyone was like him, that their parents could learn that Judai would always be different, that they could all be happy as it was.

Graduates from Academia meet the best requirements to carry on with later life, are educated all around (a chip off his shoulders, that someone teaches Johan's spacey brother to be grounded) and have the options to do what they want with their lives, even remain at Academia. When the first letter had come, telling of how fun it was even when the lessons weren't all that interesting, Johan had made peace and known his brother was in good hands and everything would turn out alright.

Johan had been hopeful, yes, and happy. But he had still worried.

Judai (with Yubel) alone together with many strangers, people who would comprehend the nature that is Judai even less than their parents could because they do not have the advantage of familiarity...

Yes, Johan had worried. A deep, nebulous pit of anxiety that he could ignore most of the time but that distracted him at the most inopportune moments.

Johan's brother is willful, too easily distracted and tied so much deeper into things that couldn't been seen that it is impossible for him to just put it aside in the way Johan does and focus on living in the material world. Johan wants to believe, he really does, that Academia will work out alright, but...

But then the letters had become sparse, Judai's voice and emotions in them muted.

Given that, he is only mildly surprised when, as he makes a short stop at home on the way through to the next crash course (on economy of expansion this time), Judai is waiting for him.

When he in fact should be in the middle of classes, at a boarding school half the world away.

The surprise grows into concern when it becomes apparent to him that Yubel used one of her tricks to make it seem to their staff as though Judai is not at home at all.

Meaning their parents don't know, meaning Judai _doesn't want them to know_ , meaning it's important enough to use a long time, large area spell (or something – Johan isn't quite clear on details, not that it matters).

For a spirit who is as conservative as she is cautious that means a whole lot.

It means by far not as much as the _strange_ expression on Judai's face. Johan doesn't even know what to call it, except that on his easy going brother he has never seen it before.

Johan drops his bag in shock, seeing Judai sitting in the armchair in Johan's room like that. At first Judai doesn't even notice, Yubel standing guard over him, impassive as always and with her arms crossed, waiting.

"Judai," Johan manages, closing the door behind him before anyone happens to overhear them. "Why...why aren't you at school? Is everything alright?"

His brother's brown head shoots up at his voice. "Johan!" In a quick bounce that is much more in character, he crosses the room and pulls Joahn into an enthusiastic hug. "I missed you! It's been a year!"

Johan returns the hug, Judai's light voice soothing the unease in his stomach some. "I wanted to come visit you, but Mother and Father said Academia doesn't like providing distractions to their students. How have you been? Your last mail wasn't very clear."

Judai rocks back on the balls of his feet, a wide grin splitting his mouth. "I've been great! You should have seen what it's like at Academia. I could just spend the entire day napping on the beach and no one cared. There were so may spirits there, but sadly no one could see them. I brought a lot back with me, since they get lonely alone. Do you want to see them?"

Johan's mind latches onto _spirits_ with eager fascination, but what comes out his mouth is, "You've been skipping? What about lessons?"

A mischievous grin flickers over his brother's face. "If no one knew I wasn't there, they couldn't say anything, right?"

"Don't they take attendance?"

Judai shrugs. "Well yeah."

Johan blinks. Then shrugs too, dismissing it. So long as everything works out he doesn't care to know how. Judai has his own way of going about things (which is where everyone is troubled). "So you're just here for a visit and skipping classes and not because something blew up?" Joah rises his best skeptic eyebrow like he saw their father do to employees giving him excuses. Once Judai likes things it's _extremely difficult_ to separate him from it. Meaning it makes no sense whatsoever that he is here if Duel Academia really is as great as he claims.

But Judai's smile flickers. Foreboding pickles at Johan's neck.

"What happened?" Johan looks, really _looks_ at his brother focusing on seeing those things that other people can't notice. Yubel is there, flecks of her eye color dotting Judai's dark brown pupils; a sign of recent usage if anything. The whole air around him is as though knotted with fine spiderwebs, coiled to tear, saturated with awareness and _snap-hiss_ threat of reaction.

It's like watching the first domino of a long row teeter on the edge. Johan starts to become really, really concerned. "Judai, what's wrong?" His voice softens.

Judai blows out a breath, strand of his hair falling over his eyes as he turns away, pacing over to the window to look out. Hands are folded behind his straight back, his shoulders tense. For a moment, he looks so _fragile_ that Johan's heart twists and he wants nothing more than to build a wall around him to protect him from the world.

"I don't know," his brother confesses after a long, long time of shadows growing longer, his voice low and insecure. "Just…" His hands clench. "I just...couldn't stay there anymore. Something made me sick to the bone."

Johan feels his eyebrows pull together. He swallows and licks his lips. He has to try. "Are you sure you didn't just come down with something? Ate something wrong? Maybe the cooks started using something you're allergic to. I know how you can get with food."

"They didn't," rules Yubel, and well, that is that.

Johan picks up his bag and tosses it on the couch, moving to stand with Judai. Up close, in the light of the afternoon, Johan takes in the differences in his brother since the last time he saw him. He grew taller (so did Johan), his face is a little less round, he moves like someone used to a lot of exercising, but he is too thin. His skin is tan, and when Johan looks deeper, what defines Judai is still sleeping under his skin.

 _Good._

(Though he doesn't know why he thinks so.)

Johan can breathe a tad easier, a feeling of dread he hadn't noticed before leaving him. "From the way you're talking going on holidays doesn't seem to be the solution." Johan chews his lips.

If Judai _needs_ to get away from that school - and it's clear he _does_ else he would not be here, would not use his gifts to carelessly - not even what their parents would say matters to Johan. He's the bog brother. He has got to look out for Judai. (No one else who isn't immaterial does _in the way that Judai needs._ )

There are options coming to mind, however Johan doesn't really think they have any value: transferring to another branch of Academia, transferring to one of the rare substandard schools, dropping out…

What matters is that Judai _isn't fine_ and what they can do to change it.

A brief smile flickers over Judai's features, not lasting as it is swallowed by a solemn stare. "It's like I can smell it in the air, you know. Like rotten eggs. And it even followed me here."

Nodding before smiling awkwardly, Johan opens his hands. "So what are we going to do, if you don't want to go back to school? Where do you want to go? Don't tell me you and Yubel haven't got ideas already."

* * *

Being the trusted, obedient child that he is Johan has some say in what he wants to do how and when so while it is unusual that he cancels the next lectures on short notice, it is not alarming and or unusual, especially as he books flight and attendance for an exhibition by Duel Academia -the school his precisoul brother is attending - that time frame.

The exhibition is to take place half the world away, only a few hundred miles away from the Academia main campus. Many business representatives and heirs will be there, together with politicians and rumor has it Akaba Leo himself will be present.

Johan dearly hopes not.

* * *

"Are you sure you can keep this up?" Johan asks a bit nervously, trying not to move his lips too obviously while speaking. Judai is sitting next to him in the limo that picked them up, in full sight, and no one has so much as glanced at him.

Naturally Judai just shrugs distractedly, his face pressed to the window as he watches interestedly how they are transported from the landing zone, away from their private flight. His eyes dart from metal bird to metal bird, to the people moving about in smaller vehicles and the many other travelers in a bus that is passing them.

Yubel of course doesn't offer any more confidence, seemingly ignoring him. Sometimes Johan wonders what he did to so terribly offend her. He can't remember ever even looking at her funny. After all, even Judai had thought Yubel had been their nanny and not the middle aged lady who sat in a stool and was uninteresting.

Johan shifts in his seat, skin itching with tension. Getting caught at home or in a private flight is a different thing than getting caught in a high security area for a highly coveted event where every move will be caught on camera.

…speaking of, he better pretend very much to be as oblivious to Judai's presence as everyone else once they arrive, since he really doesn't want to get blamed for...well.

As they leave the airport behind, the landscape changes to pale brown plains, glimmering with the heat hazes. Dead plants not yet having fallen to dust occasionally provide a point to focus a sliding gaze on. Once, Judai points out the ruins of an old town not far from the highway that, given that it still stands can't have been abandoned more than ten years ago – a result of the economic boom. Every once in a while, they see the gleaming spirals of Academia's greatest technological advancement floating in the air. They have become a more regular sight lately and Johan enjoys the possibilities they open.

Soon however the dried land is swallowed by the rising buildings of a metropolis. Skyscrapers reach into the sky so high that Johan cannot see the top, their polished walls reflecting the sun of the clear indigo sky.

The limo stops in front of the largest of them all, all glass fronts, sliding doors and pristine floors. Even a red carpet is extend half onto the walkway, inviting guests to follow. Swallowing a nervous lump, Johan climbs out of the car, handing his identification to the man specifically coming to take it, and can only breathe a sigh of relief when Judai, climbing after him, is thoroughly ignored.

Yubel, even more invisible than Judai, has a lazy smirk curling her lips and her eyes glow with the deepest of turquoise and amber. Despite that Johan grew up with the sight, it is still a bit eery to see his own brother's eyes gain two layers, one his natural brown, the other a weak (at the moment) reflection of his guardian spirit's.

Johan had also actually never seen Yubel do something this large scale. But then again, now that he thinks about it, he has no idea what Yuebl can do anyway. It should concern him, perhaps, because he knows it isn't normal, knows that it isn't natural to be born with a fully independent guardian who can be-spell minds and manipulate circumstances at her will without anyone the wiser.

Ever since he started traveling and gained perspective through distance and other people, he knows too that she is dangerous in more ways than one; one perfect example is happening right before his eyes.

But he can't bring himself to...well. He doesn't trust her unconditionally (never managed to), but he does trust her unconditionally with Judai. And that is all that matters to both her and him.

"Welcome, Eriksen-sama. We are pleased to welcome you," the manager of the event greets, bowing Johan into the main hall where the exhibition starts. "We are convinced the technology presented by us will prove to be pioneering in the future. Never before has any of it existed outside of theoretical – and indeed – fictional fantasies."

Johan takes the leaflet an aid is offering him while nodding politely at the manager. "I'm sure you will not disappoint considering it is our Eriksen family who founds your research."

The man bows again. "Those founds are well invested, I assure you. However more then let me speak, may I suggest you convince yourself of it?" The man straightens and smiles invitingly. "We _are_ that confident."

Johan gives a practiced smile in return. "I look forward to it."

The manager hints at another bow before leaving his (their) presence and addressing the next guest, no doubt repeating the same thing all over.

"I sure wouldn't want that guy's job," Judai observes. "It must suck."

Johan shoots Judai an exasperated look, and his brother moves obediently on, looking over Johan's shoulder as the elder of them unfolds the brochure. Like they hoped, it includes a layout of the exhibition.

Running a finger down the cutline until he finds what they're here for, Judai says. "Here. It's on the tenth floor. Come on, lets go."

Johan wishes Judai would remember that while he might be invisible (or something like it), Johan isn't, and unlike Judai Johan will have do deal with the aftermath, so he can't really implicate himself by being seen dragged around by what appears to be thin air. He also wishes Judai would read all the available information first, because if he would, then he would see that the object they are here of is the only thing on the tenth floor and will only be displayed later.

An eye ticks in annoyance. Judai has already disappeared into the exhibition.

Okay, fine then. It's not like Judai needs Johan's help anymore at this point. It's not like -

Blowing out a deep breath to release his agitation, Johan decides to actually follow the suggested line of displays and work his way up one floor at a time. He should make it before the main event starts on the tenth. That is, after all, what an exhibition is built for. Show everyone everything and finish it off with a coup d' grace.

There's no reason to be hurt by Judai's lacking consideration. It's not like he did it on purpose. Judai just never thinks things through.

...which kind of suddenly makes Johan doubt the wisdom of this plan, but it's too late to bow out.

Following the displays, Johan is shown first the standard Duel Academia uniforms in all three colors in comparison to the upgraded ones. He skips over the explanations written on the side, then finds his eyes dranw to a new version of the uniforms intended for the Academia graduates staying employed by the school, Obelisk Force. Skimming over the immense list of attributes they supposedly have now (like being made of fire resistant material, providing extreme protection from physical injuries, how it supports the body and so forth) and one extra part for the helmets alone and what fancy features are included in them (trackers, vitals check, protection, night-vision, communicators, etc.) Johan wonders what they are all for. It's not like he would need all those features in a tux and that is basically what this too runs down to. Just because it can be done does not mean that it is needed.

He circles a vehicle intended to be the new standard transport capable of operating at maximum even in ..what do they call it...hostile territory?

What kind of hostile territory; unpaved streets? Through hard terrain?

The second floor is one dedicated to Academia's research facilities, which Johan just brushes through, unable to even understand the tags intended to explain the display due to all the scientific terminology.

The third floor shows all terrain equipment, for students and the Obelisk Force; stuff like dive suits, para-gliders, pitons, even grappling hooks. Around Johan, the other guests, mostly men and women in expensive suits murmur approvingly and impressed. Some of those faces Johan is even familiar with from conventions he visited with his parents. He is even greeted by some, but unlike them Johan can't take a liking to the exhibition.

He checks the time. There's still over three hours left before things start on the tenth. Johan sighs and figures since he has nothing better to do he might as well drudge through the rest of the floors.

The seventh floor doesn't tell him much. It pretty much looks like what Johan expects an ideal world to be like (no dirt on the streets, no poverty, everyone happy and having a purpose, the holograms don't even show a cloud in the sky). There is also no mention of how they want to accomplish making that world reality. Just that it is possible and aimed for and an operation in progress. It's beautiful. Johan would like to live in a world like that and he makes a special note of the project number to request follow up information.

As he climbs the stairs to the tenth floor, swamped by people with the same goal in mind, he reflects that while Academia made a wonderful exhibition without fault, it did nothing at all to put the unease Johan feels to rest. That he can't find a reason for the feeling stands out pointedly in his mind and he is disinclined to dismiss his instincts.

The tenth floor is filled with people. Johan can't look further than his arm can reach and since he is still young he's also lost. But he's used to being in similar settings and has been forced to develop his own techniques and tricks. Looking at the faces, the direction the bodies surrounding him are turned, where the attention gathers, its easy for him to deduce in which direction he has to squeeze through.

He keeps an eye out for his brother, but doesn't find him or his lady dragon-demon until he squeezes out behind the last pair of legs. His eyes fall on a tribune, secured against the back wall of the room. It strikes him immediately how large it is – wide enough to let a car drive circles.

Judai stands just as Johan does behind the barrier in front of the stage, his eyes nailed to the object displayed in a vitrine at the center of it. The newest model of duel unsettling, Yubel hovers over him with a smirk and a selections of cards in her hands that ought to be duel monster cards but without a deck in sight. One of her clawed hands drifts over them, as if she couldn't decide which to pick even as the bulk of her attention observes the stage.

Neither notice him.

Just as Johan considers if he could risk elbowing through to them, a gong sounds, drawing his attention to the stage where a bulky man in a neat suit who seemingly fits much better into survival gear and tank tops out on a field doing physical labor, steps up, a microphone in his hands.

Then the man starts speaking. He has a deep voice, but as strong as it is, it pales in comparison to the conviction, loyalty and passion put in every word. The man welcomes them, speaks in place of Academia's Director who unfortunately could not be present, and drops a great many key words like 'glory', 'success', 'unification', 'new frontiers' and 'duty and responsibility', which Johan can't really focus on.

His entire being listens in equal parts anticipation and dread for the reason they have come here.

At the end of the speech, their expectations are confirmed: "What you see before you is the newest model of duel disks. It differs from its predecessor in countless ways that are of no interest to listen to, so instead we have arranged for a demonstration." Laughter ensues and at the cue a man dressed in the new Obelisk Blue uniform steps up, taking the duel disk the man -Barret, Johan believes – has been showing around.

At the other end of the stage, against the wall well away from the audience, a dummy is put up.

"One of the features integrated is pioneering in its ingenuity, stunning in its effects. Allow us to introduce the new Solid Vision!" At a sharp, drilled gesture, the Obelisk Blue member summons a monster. It appears with a few sparks, seems to be completely solid, and Johan's breath is taken away by how lifelike it is when there isn't even a spirit inside the machine dog.

The Antique Gear Hound dog pounces on the dummy. It doesn't fly right through or even half through. It is _real_. Not dampened, not ineffective. The dummy doesn't stand a chance. The teeth are sharp like daggers, its weight heavy like a truck. Johan feels the vibrations of the dog's movements travel through he floor up into his body.

It's _fascinating_.

Johan only imagines. With that he could summon his monsters and talk with them for real. He could pet them without having to watch his fingers slip through them, he could give them more comfortable places to sleep, share his food with them, introduce them to those who can't see spirits – if he could give them a body with that – he could do all that Yubel (and or Judai) can, and they won't have to do it for him.

Johan _wants_ a duel disk like that.

If they get to have them at Academia, maybe he could convince his parents to enroll him…

"As you can see," the speaker summarizes, "it is more than living up to its name of Real Solid Vision. The effects are furthermore not only limited to physical attacks," Hound Dog spits fire at a second dummy, "or to monsters." A card is put onto the entirely projected sword-shaped disk without falling through, burning or getting damaged, calling forth a whirlpool of blue and red. "Cards like our prided Polymerization are as integrated into the system as breathing into a flesh and blood body."

A few more demonstrations follow, each grander than the last, showing the limits – or rather lack of them- of the device.

"All this is accomplished, as you can see, in a disk no larger than before. It's weight has been adjusted to three pounds more, most of which are attributed to the framework protecting the delicate circuity so that even with heavy damage it can continue functioning without restriction. Furthermore, as difficult to believe as you may find it, even the most covered and, until recently only limited available and far too unstable, DTS has been installed." The man looks at the suddenly murmuring with anticipation audience with intense and proud eyes.

Breath has halted in Johan chest.

"Yes, you have heard correct Ladies and Gentlemen. The TDS, the Dimension Transport System, has been perfected and will be put to use as soon as the duel disks become the standard in, as of now, exactly twenty days." With a significant nod at the assistant, the exhibition arrives at its climax.

"The support card, Violet Flash. I am sure you are all familiar with it. We have encoded the present version with a set of coordinates that, when used outside a duel will activate as following."

The Obelisk Blue member, having held up the Violet Flash card, puts it onto the disk. Like the name said, violet light follows. Through squinted eyes, Johan watches the man bursts into tiny particles, like a hologram.

When the light fades, the man is gone.

"As you can see," Barret announces into the resulting silence. "A full success."

Out of nothing the same light reappears, leaving behind the assisting duelist.

Johan's hands are clammy with sweat and excitement. It w _orks_.

Dozens of meters away, within sight, and yet for all that it feels like a world apart, Judai's eyes narrow with intent. Yubel widens her smirk to show pointed teeth, one card floating over her palm. It disintegrates into tendrils of purple shadow.

Instantly sirens explode into wailing noise all over the building. A moment of stillness follows, the thoughts 'what is going on?', 'is it real?' visibly spelled out on the faces of hundreds. On all but one. Johan has torn his eyes from the stage and looks at Judai, eyes widened.

No ten second later, the panic starts. With panic, chaos. People start screaming and running. Pushing and wailing. Shouting names. Shouting to calm down. However even Judai's former teacher, Barret-sensei, can't penetrate the haze.

As focused as he is in any duel Johan has seen, Judai waits for the perfect moment to strike. He does not let the duel disk out of his sight, bowing under the railing and moving at an undisturbed pace. People run, no one pays him any attention and Johan's brother gets languidly closer to his goal.

Johan stays locked in his place, watching torn. Even if he wants to move, he can't. He should leave. He should try to get out, even though he knows that it's a distraction ( _but the smoke is real! Yubel_ would _set real fire. Is it real?_ ), a life of being drilled to evacuate wants him to run. Ratio too tells him he should leave, lest he be made responsible.

But he just _can't._

Danger or no, he can't just leave his little brother like this. He can't just leave without _knowing._ He can't just leave without sending him off. He can't just leave without _seeing_ him off.

If Johan leaves now, he doesn't know when he will see Judai again. (If ever, the voice of a scared little boy whispers, what if-)

His feet start moving into the opposite direction he knows he should go.

"Judai!" He shouts, his voice drowning in the maelstrom of noise. Bodies push against him, tearing him in one direction, away from his brother.

But he's lucky. Because he's chosen a place to stand so close to the barrier, he can cling to it without getting torn away. Like a sinking ship, the people like crushing dangerous waves, it's chaos. Johan feels himself get dragged into it in a pure reaction of animal instinct. Smoke, heavy and white, clouds under the ceiling. His pulse is racing, and he wonders if breathing becomes hard because of the smoke of because of his own rising panic.

Johan struggles forward and burst into free space. A heart squeezing scene meets his eyes. "Judai!"

Judai looks up. As he finds Johan just out of the crowd, his face splits into a happy, unburdened smile that stands in total dissonance with the chaos around them or the man that lies at Judai's feet or the unnatural color of his eyes or the fact that he is snapping on a duel disk.

Still, it's as though someone had taken a vacuum and sucked all the noise and people away. All doubts and fears Johan had had melt away with that smile.

(Because Judai has not smiled like _that_ – easy, simple, free giving, happy– since he returned from Academia.)

…

Judai will be alright.

Johan can believe in that again. If Judai needs to get away to be happy, then Johan will be happy to see him leave.

Judai's smile softens. Someone stumbles through their line of sight, the next thing Johan sees is a card slicing through the air at him. He catches it, not pausing to identify it before he meets Judai's eyes again.

Johan's little brother says something, but he can't hear it. Judai lifts two fingers, points them at Johan, eyes closing in a smile.

Light burst forth, and Judai is gone.

Legs feeling weak from adrenaline and nerves, Johan sinks to the ground. The world rushes into focus again. Sirens are howling in the background like lost wolves. Smoke is already receding.

His gaze falls to the card in his hands. Big round eyes stare up at him, brown fur is wild and ruffled. A soft cooing reaches Johan's ears, and he laughs.

Or cries.

* * *

TBC.


	4. II-I: stopping child

Part II-I

* * *

stopping child

* * *

Judai's arrival in a different, strange, alien world is none of those things. A feeling of pinpricks leaves him as he is dropped in a small back alley, teleportation finished. Rubbish bins stand neatly closed to the side, bright sunlight streams in from the street ahead. Noise of people talking and laughing drifts to him even in this dark corner.

The air -

Judai breathes in deep.

No longer does he feel as though he is inhaling poison. It's clean and pure, even when the smell of a city is overlaying it.

The feeling of freedom is incomparable. He is so glad, he almost bursts into laughter of joy and relief right then and there. Until now, he hadn't even known how much the very atmosphere at home – in his home _world_ – ate at him. Like acid, corrosion, unnoticeable.

Briefly, his thoughts drift to Johan. But he left a friend with Johan in his stead, so his brother should be fine. And anyway, Johan is smarter than him.

Judai smiles.

Before he allows himself to explore the _new world_ he does what any good boy who did something bad does.

Destroy the evidence.

Knowing Academia as he does (or as he suspects he now does), there's gonna be a tracker inside the duel disk. Somewhere.

So Judai merrily sets fire to the thing, crouching next to it as he fans the flames.

Barret-sensei sure didn't exaggerate though, because the disk is difficult as hell to properly damage, but, well. Judai doesn't even bother rescuing the cards that are inside it. They are just empty ink on paper, unloved and unappreciated.

Smoke drifts up in puffs, climbing between the two buildings on either side of him into blue sky that seems much bluer than at home. Judai smiles. His heart feels as light as those few clouds up there.

"Hey! You there! I mean you, kid with the black jacket!"

Judai's eyes fall from the pretty sky to the entrance of the alley, which is shadowed by a man. A man wearing a uniform and a whistle in hand.

"What are you doing, playing with fire?! Put that out immediately!"

Being pulled away from the merry flames, Judai knows he's off to a good start. The first alien he meets is a police man – wait.

Alien…

The policeman's a human. _Why_ the heck is he a human?

Where is the green skin and the tails and the ears instead of eyes and -

As he is put into a police car to be brought in to the station, Judai pouts.

(Yubel's merry amusement is not helping.)

* * *

In a darkened and high-tech room, a terminal's steady recording experiences a hiccup, quite like a heart monitor's line announcing a heartbeat after a long time of silence. It's just one pulse, but it happened and was recorded.

Later, in the evening, when the monitor will be checked, that pulse will be reason to further investigate. The investigation will include narrowing down the point of origin, the exact time, the security cameras from and around the place in question, as well as the curious discovery of a child being taken in for careless arson. A check on this child will reveal to the one investigating nothing. It will make this man frown.

As the profile of the child is updated by the police station the information immediately appears on an outside terminal (through not quite legal means). This profile will also reveal nothing, making the man consider a faked identity. However a scan on the face will not have anyone in the entire world fitting it. The dialect of the boy which will be given an extra recording added to the file, is not spoken anywhere on record, anywhere in the world.

It is, the man will consider calculatingly, as though the child appeared out of thin air. Knowing better, though, he will estimate the child must be from _somewhere_. That 'where' is the question. Together with _why come here_.

Given previous experiences, this child will be flagged and monitored for suspicious activity.

To have better access to do so, the man will use his connections to put the child in an orphanage, enroll him in a school and create a normal environment. It will provide the ideal conditions for a stable, routine life, meaning anything not fitting this picture will _stand out_. The child (by the police so far assumed to have run away from home) will determine through his actions if there is further reason to investigate or not.

Until then, the young man will see if the duel disk that was burned will reveal anything.

This man is nothing but meticulous.

It helps that he has free time to kill what with no actual crises happening and him doing research/investigating for – what one particular upbeat friend would call – _fun_.

* * *

TBC


	5. II-I: tide's pull

Part II-I

* * *

tide's pull

* * *

Despite how Judai's start in a new life began, it's only been looking up since. The policemen treated him well despite being annoyed for the thing with burning a duel disk and for him not spitting out where he came from so that they may return him there. After being kept at the station over night and no missing persons reports in by morning, they were at a loss on what to do with him. Thus he got treated like any other homeless kid – put into an orphanage.

The policemen very persistently repated that to him. Judai wonders if they think it's a threat.

If they do, his excitement on the ride to where he will live from now on must be very disconcerting. Judai is vibrating in his seat, pushing his nose to the window, trying to drink in the city. The _world._

Families are walking on the sidewalks, children between parents, a child skipping ahead, a balloon in hand.

The air itself feels as though it would like to make cartwheels of joy.

Or maybe that's just him.

(Anything is better than being _home_.)

The city rushing by is not large by Judai's standards, but it is still pretty big. There are a number of skyscrapers, particularly behind that freakishly tall wall, but only a few and they aren't shaped like the skyscrapers Judai is familiar with. Sky-rails are drawn across the sky. There are many lawns and flower fields, many stairs reaching higher sideways…Judai is fascinated. It almost seems as though they built the city as much on the ground as in the sky. So many parks, and play grounds and…

...he breaths a sigh of awe. Dueling courts. People dueling (with odd devices over their eyes, with ninety percent see-through duel monsters) in the open, with nothing to win or lose.

In daylight, the city is bright and colorful. Buildings are just painted red or green for no apparent reason, an orange one claiming Judai's attention as the car rolls past. They are even shaped oddly.

The city is artistic. Beautiful.

The officer driving laughs. "Now I know why you won't talk. Bet you ran away from home to come to the metropolis of dreams. Welcome to Heartland, kid." Through the rear mirror, he gives Judai a warm look, crowsfeet crinkling. "Don't let us catch you burning things again, and we'll get along just fine."

* * *

The orphanage he is dropped at is the only one in the entire city. A two story building painted in a rainbow of color is seated comfortably between a large playground and a supermarket that signals the beginning of a mall – said mall is gigantic, an open building complex, many stairs, much open space, the sky visible almost everywhere.

Nothing, Judai is quickly learning, is sterile or boring in this world. _Everything_ has it's own character. From the cleaning robots to the police cars, to the traffic lights, over sidewalks, train stations, railings and flowers, all the while still managing to somehow fit together.

It's overwhelming, threatening to swallow him in its whirl.

Judai thinks he _likes_ that.

Currently the orphanage has only five occupants – including Judai. The matron, three children, two of them around his age.

They welcome him openly, curiously and with more warmth Judai had ever been given from anyone other then Johan or Yubel (which is a bit dizzying). They cooked a welcome feast for him, homemade, nothing as flawless as what the cooks at home or Academia would have provided him with, but Judai likes it more instantly (and feels a bit guilty for it).

This is personal. People who he never met before made this for _him_. Only him. Not for what he does. Not for who he is. Just _for him._

The matron is a strongly built woman, face lined with wrinkles and hair streaked with gray. Introducing herself as Martha ("Call me Matha-san, dear.") she guides him with a warm hand on the shoulder through the building, showing him where everything is and introducing him to the other children.

They blurt questions at him, promise to show him around and are as excited by his arrival as he is. The lone girl among them and the youngest, Makka, shyly lets him borrow her bear for the first night. The boys, Toru and Riku, want to know if he duels, offer to teach him in the same breath, want to know his favored archetype, his -

Judai is caught in a whirl of excitement and activity as soon as he set foot over the threshold. The policeman leaves without Judai noticing, and by the end of the day, belly full with delicious food, Judai falls asleep on a well used couch, exhausted.

In the morning he wakes up in bed, blanket pulled up to his shoulders, Makka's bear next to him.

(For an instant he misses Johan with a fierce, crippling ache. But it's gone so fast he doesn't even have time to blink.)

* * *

TBC


	6. II-I: chasms of the in-between

Part II-I

* * *

chasms of the in-between

* * *

"Martha-san, why does everyone have those strange half-glasses over their eyes?"

"Half-glasses?" Martha-san repeats distractedly as she is browsing through clothes that she thinks will fit both Judai and the budget.

"Those." Judai points at a duel just outside the store that has been taking up most of his attention. It's a duel, the same rules, the same kind of cards, yet Judai feels as though he has never seen anything like it.

Martha-san hold up a light blue shirt against Judai, the line of her mouth indicating that she doesn't like the way it looks, before finally following the line of Judai's finger. It still takes her a couple moments to guess what he means. "Oh, you mean the D-gazers. Do they not have them where you are from?"

Mutely, Judai shakes his head, spellbound. The duel is alien in its flow, in the duelists' bearings, foreign in the way how at least half of the see-through holograms are occupied by spirits.

Spirits who seem to take just as much joy in the harmless _playing around_ , in the testing of limits and challenges.

(Even his own Elemental Heroes and Neo Spacians don't look like that, and that's a shock that hits Judai right in the gut. His monsters are...sworn to his service - _soldier_ s (heroes) to defend himself and others - not partners picked by coincidence, getting-to-know-each-other and growing trust.)

 _A game._

Despite the comparatively bad technology, a _loved_ game. _For everyone._

A pang twists his heart. The emotion comes out of the blue, overwhelming him, to the point where he forgets where (who?) he is. His hand twists in the fabric of his shirt.

Martha-san kneels before him, drawing his attention back to her with a soft touch to his hand. Touch is grounding, touch is trust, touch is comfort. The sheen of tears glazing his eyes doesn't seem to surprise her. "How about we buy you a duel disk and a D-gazer? One for Makka, Toru and Riku too, so that you can all duel together. It can be your welcome present."

And, like the sun piercing a cloudy sky, Judai slowly smiles.

* * *

"Heroes? What are they good for?" Toru questions, a particular tilt to his mouth that says he thinks his beasts are much cooler. The silver scar at the comer of his mouth makes it look as though he has a fang. "They're all normal monsters."

Judai laughs where other people would be insulted. It's alright, because he knows his heroes. "Not all," he says, and pushes Elemental HEROes Fire Lady and The Heat for him and Riku to see. "And they fuse really well."

Even taciturn Riku widens his eyes in surprise at that. Judai blinks.

"Fu-se," repeats Toru, as if trying the word out for the first time. "What's 'fuse'?"

Riku pushes his glasses up his nose, his silence a tell that he doesn't know either.

While Judai is trying to wrap his head around that fact that someone hasn't heard of fusion (how different! How exciting!), a timid voice speaks up and explains for him. "It's an extra summoning method." Makka shyly looks over to them from the tea party she is holding for her stuffed animals in a corner of the room, auburn pigtails bobbing. "You need a magic card for it, so it's harder than XYZ. Daddy used to say so. That's why no one uses Fusion."

Fire Lady and The Heat trade glances. Judai smiles at them, laying HERO Inferno to them as well as Polymerization. "It's not harder," Judai insists. "Look. You just need these two and Polymerization, and you can summon Inferno." Makka, after a moment, hesitantly comes crawling over to them to join the two boys in studying the cards. "I think XYZ is much harder, cause you need them to be the same level. And they need to be face up, right? _And_ on the field?"

The boys nod distractedly in their intense focus.

"Isn't it, though," considers Riku thoughtfully moments later, darting a look at Judai. Behind the glint of his glasses, his eyes are dual-colored and Judai finds that endlessly fascinating. Less pretty than Yubel's, but the greatest likeness he's ever seen in a human. "That for this you also need the specific material? You can't summon Inferno without both monsters _and_ the card. Not just _a_ monster, _the_ monsters. That's easy to counter, if you know what monster comes out just from seeing the first material."

"Yeah, but look here, if I have Fire Lady and The Heat and Polymerization, I don't have to summon Inferno. I can also call Nova Master. So you don't know which one I'd go for, and they have different attack and defense and effects and stuff."

Toru frowns in concentration at Judai. "But that's the same with XYZ."

Judai pauses. "Oh, I guess you're right."

* * *

TBC


	7. II-I: feathers in a pond

Part II-I

* * *

feathers in a pond

* * *

First day at school is always exciting. It had been so at Academia and it is like that here too.

It's the first public school he goes to, and he'll be learning normal stuff and he'll learn with fun and not because _doitdoitdoitdoitorelse_.

Best of all: it turns out Judai is _nothing_ to to his new classmates. Just another kid. Not the useless son of a wealthy family talked about behind closed doors who happens to be blessed with talent he doesn't deserve. Judai is new, so he is interesting, but so are they, and neither of them are interesting for any reason other than _new._

No one watches him with hawk-eyes, no one threatens loss of life and limb on him for skipping, and the lessons don't even make him _want_ to skip. They are actually fun because they teach while playing and the students aren't forbidden from talking to each other. It's encouraged even.

The only thing Judai misses a bit is getting taught about dueling. He'd looked a lot forward to learning more about XYZ, in real hands on, and to duel lots of XYZ users and to have _fun_ with it.

"Why don't you go to a duel school?" The girl who is his study partner for the day asks him curiously.

Judai stops searching for the objects written on the list. "Duel school?"

She tugs a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Don't you know? There are duel schools we can visit after classes have let out. I go to the Spade School." She smiles happily. "If you want I can show you there."

"Really?"

She laughs, a sound like grass waving in sunlight and wind. "Of course. I'd be happy to. You're new so its natural you don't know your way around yet. Oh, look!" She suddenly points at an orange ball bigger than Judai's head on a court they were just passing by. "We found a b-a-s-k-e-t-b-a-l-l." The foreign pronounced letters roll awkwardly off her tongue. "Would you mind making a photo of it so I can take it off the list?"

Judai pulls out his brand new D-pad (it's so _strange,_ with mechanical parts, doubling as a mobile phone and address book, note book, camera _and_ duel disk), snapping a picture with it.

"Great!" Ruri proclaims, putting her hands together cheerfully. "Now we're finished. Do you want to go back inside and eat lunch or look for the others and see if they're done too?"

Judai's stomach answers.

* * *

It's awesome that the mall is right next to the orphanage. On Sunday mornings, when they don't have school, Toru, Judai and Riku can hang out there while Makka is over at school friends' houses or knitting with Martha-san.

Toru and Riku apparently do always go when they have allowance to spent. Today they are showing Judai around and using up all change that doesn't go into a savings box.

Judai is in awe. The mall has _everything_.

Lots and lots of stores, the ones Judai has visited with Martha-san, but they also have an entire _floor_ just for games and fun and for hanging out. There's even an arcade (where Judai promptly loses at the fighting games to the rude orange haired man besides him, gotten beaten soundly in memory games by Riku and completely trounced them in all games needing physical activity thanks to his Academia training)! Apparently the arcade has new games all the time, so that every trip is a new exploration.

"Oh, look! Judai! Riku! Look over here!" Toru points at a large aquarium filled with fish, awe pouring out of his voice. "We can swim with sharks here!" Judai does a double take.

It's true. There are other fish in there too, but the sharks drifting lazily around are the most obvious. They are at least as big as Judai. Next to the front plane stands a shield, informing them of what they need to bring if they do want to go diving in there.

"Awesome," breaths Judai, pressing his face flat against the glass. The aquarium is way bigger than it seems, extending past the relatively small window allowing them to see the animals. There are in fact even people swimming in there right now. Yubel's sudden, distinctly pronounced disapproval only spurs Judai on. "Let's try it!"

"Yeah!" Cows Toru.

"Count me out," adds Riku, eying the animals and them in turn sceptically. He's very good with saying a lot without saying anything at all and right now he clearly questions their sanity.

"Oh come on," protests Toru, blond hair bobbing with every bounce on his feet. "Don't be boring!"

The look Toru gains for that is _devastating_. "I like having all my body parts, but if you want to feed the man-eating fish, be my guest. I'm not doing your chores if you end up with one hand less." With that Riku turns on the spot and heads over to the car races.

Toru sticks out his tongue after him. Then he eyes Judai, suddenly nervous. Judai thinks he's starting to notice that for some reason Toru can never admit to weakness in front of Riku. He wonders why that is. People are as they are, some doing things better and some doing things worse than others, no? "You think they really bite?"

"Those aren't real sharks," a voice behind them speaks up derisively.

The man who beat Judai soundly at the bloody fighting games stares at the aquarium in equal parts scorn and disgust. "The real shark I'm unfortunately familiar with would spit out anyone daring to pet him in more pieces than those 1000 parts puzzles your friend seems fond of." The man jerks his head at Riku, who indeed is drifting back to the puzzles. But the look he shoots them from the corner of his eyes, light brown brimming with something cold and malicious is only for them. "Want me to introduce you to him?"

As Toru eeps, Judai stares at the man, grinning. "You aren't really in a position to throw stones, you know."

The man barks a laugh, chain rings on his fingers, chains on his belt, from his pockets jingling. "True!" He squints as though Judai is something irregular. "Hey, aren't you the kid I took apart in that samurai game?"

Said game works by fitting a helmet and being in a box that transmits their movement in a simpler version of AR that isn't limited to Duel Monsters. It's really cool with seemingly real weapons and on a grass plane with nothing to see except the horizon and the enemy. When that man says 'taken apart', he also means that quite literally. It was very violent.

Judai pulls a face, causing the man to snicker evilly. He decides to move on, walking away, but his eyes glimmer as they drift over Judai. "Don't take it too hard. You've got potential. With a couple years of training, you might even match me for ruthlessness."

Judai pulls a _Face_.

The man laughs loud as he leaves, drawing many eyes, most of them unsettled.

Heartland is _amazing_.

Johan would pull his hair out for talking to creepy men, but it's sooooo exciting.

* * *

 _You know_ , Judai thinks as he lies in bed that night, Toru's snores and Riku's even breaths the only thing disturbing the silence of their shared bedroom. _Leaving Academia was the best idea you ever had._

From between the curtains, light from the street and the nearby, never sleeping mall splits the darkness. But even without it he would be able to see Yubel hovering in the air beside his bed as she fondly gazes down at him.

 _Why couldn't Academia be more like Heartland? Even though we've got Real Solid Vision at home, why didn't anyone ever think that we could have fun with our monsters? That they could be our friends?_

Yubel's lips thin as her faint smile drops, thoughts he doesn't catch ghosting through her mind. _I would assume that for all the different and thorough ways Duel Academia teaches Duel Monsters, it didn't occur to them that the dangerous, easily summoned, simple to control monsters are anything other than tools - weapons,_ she replies flatly. _To you, the warriors fighting by your side just also happen to be alive._

Judai rolls over, pressing his face into the pillow. _That's sad. Someone should tell Academia that Duel Monsters are alive._ Pause. _Can be alive_ , Judai corrects himself. Duel Monsters are alive if spirits take residence in them. Just by calling empty manifestations of mass and data a mind doesn't automatically come along with it.

...Though there's always the fact that there are simply so _many_ people calling on Antique Gear monsters and the spiritual energy involved with that _might_ eventually cause some of those spirits to fall down the rabbit hole...

 _You would not have found many who'd believe you,_ Yubel observes, tone so neutral it has Judai mentally (because he can't be bothered to roll over again) eye her suspiciously. _Generally people would rather have if their weapons are not alive. Makes it easier on their conscience. Besides, Judai, don't forget what Duel Monsters truly exists for._

Pulling a face, Judai hides the grimace in his pillow. Yubel notices anyway of course, but she doesn't care for his new-found reluctance to see Duel Monsters. No nonsense, no pity, no going easy from her. According to her Judai doesn't have the luxury to hide from basic facts of the universe behind sunshine and rainbows. Judai knows all that - she's been teaching him things all his life after all. _I like the game idea better,_ he still says petulantly.

 _So then play,_ Yubel returns, coolly unconcerned. _Play, and play, and play. But never forget that what you treat as a game is in its basic form an age-old, powerful ritual in which the stakes can mean salvation or damnation. Always be ready to put your life on the line, and know that if you lose such a_ game _at the wrong time, it could spell the end of the world._

Having to suppress a cold shiver running down his spine that wants to settle in his stomach, Judai shoves his guardian's words out of his mind as quickly as possible. Fate, destiny, the-purpose-of-his-life or whatever you wanna call it was never before as unwelcome as it is now. All that bigger picture stuff can just go and...and...hide in a hole or something. Dueling without any stakes whatsoever, having fun and laughing regardless of the victory or defeat is the sort of reality he wants to live in.

Everyone in Heartland does, why shouldn't be allowed to? Because he has powers other people don't? Because he's the Herald? Because he knows about the other rules of the 'game'? Because there is a reason he was born for - an enemy he has to fight?

He's _eleven_.

Why can't he be allowed to be like everyone else?

* * *

TBC


	8. II-I: individual words

Pert II-I

* * *

individual words

* * *

"Judai-kun, do you have a moment?"

Ruri stands at his desk, distracting him effectively from the problem he's been trading thoughts on with Riku. They're in the same year, but unlike Ruri Riku isn't the same class so they can only talk over lunch.

"Sure. What is it?"

She smiles at him (everyone always has a smile to spare; some part of Judai is still marveling), turning a chair from the row in front around so that she can join him at his desk. No one pays any mind because it's lunch break right now; most chairs are free with their owners playing outside in the sun. "Do you remember that we talked about going to Duel School together?"

Judai's smile falters, acutely aware of how Riku suddenly packs his things and leaves. That doesn't escape Ruri and she looks after the black haired glasses boy with a confused expression the first hint of hurt in her magenta eyes.

"Sorry," Judai says. "It's just, the orphanage doesn't have enough founding for all of us to go to a duel school. I poked at a really sour point when I brought it up. For one person it would be enough, but we all want to..."

Ruri's face falls. "Oh." She says in a quiet voice, sudden guilt so powerful is makes Judai by proxy feel like he accidentally crushed a butterfly. Her gaze darts after Riku. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." She bites her lower lip, left hand twisting the bracelet on her right. She stands up. "I should go after him and apologize. I didn't mean to offend." Before Judai has a chance to reply, she sweeps out, the smell of fresh air lingering behind.

Judai blinks.

Tilts his head.

Thinks about who she reminds him of.

And shudders.

If she's anything like Tenjoin-sensei, Riku (stubborn, soooo stubborn and ever so easily holding on to hurts) should maybe forgive her now or prepare himself to move to the south pole and live with the penguins.

* * *

Judai, watching from the distance as Ruri-chan haunts Riku for days, wonders absently if indeed Ruri-chan will grow up to be as terrifying as Tenjoin-sensei.

He hides in his seat as a shouting match in the corridor explodes between two familiar voices. Again.

He trades a glance with a dark haired boy who looks like Judai feels. Long suffering, fondly amused and wishing for cover.

Maybe Judai should make sure to stay on Ruri's good side. Just in case.

* * *

Ruri corners him, picking one of the very few moments where neither Toru or Riku are near him. "What does Riku-kun like?"

Is this how people normally get information about other people? Drag said people's friends into abandoned broom-closets when they pass by unsuspectingly? If so, Judai might have missed a note. He grins. "Information. He likes to know stuff. About everything, but Duel Monsters most." Selling Riku out is all for Riku's sake. Ruri will do something amazing with it, Judai just knows. She seems the type. "He's also a really, really big fan Kaito, but he tries to pretend otherwise."

In the light her D-Pad provides Ruri nods thoughtfully. "...Duel Monsters...Tenjo Kaito..."

Judai wonders what she's thinking, observing her as though he could find her thoughts written on her face. Escaping the weird situation where a classmate dragged him off into a dark room never even crosses his mind. This is far too entertaining.

When Ruri turns that contemplating gaze on him, he's surprised though. "I'm sorry, here I am rudely taking advantage of your kindness and I haven't even made up for offending you yet. Is there something I can do to apologize?"

…? "Offending me?"

The bad lighting that also happens to come from below and not above makes the crinkle between Ruri's eyebrows deep and severe. Her eyes, though, are just warm and apologetic. "I just talked to you about possible Duel Schools, when I didn't even know you, without ever considering what you'd feel like if you couldn't go."

Judai has no idea what she's trying to get at. "So?"

Ruri's frown grows puzzled. "Aren't you upset with me? You've been kind so far, but I was just -"

"Um. No?" Whyever would he be? It's not like she could have known. In the first place, it's not like being able to go to Duel School matters – _Oh_.

Judai can't help a snort. "My family was pretty rich you know. Before I came here, there wasn't anything I couldn't have. Not having enough money to have everything I want is – it's actually pretty nice." He grins lopsided. "Sure, going to a Duel School would be nice. It would be cool to really learn about XYZ, but that's not the point. It doesn't _really_ matter. If I went to Duel School I wouldn't be able to take a nap with Makka in the afternoon. I wouldn't be able to think about how nice going _would_ be. And I wouldn't have the fun of discovering XYZ on my own."

Ruri's eyebrows rise, still looking a bit like a ghoul - or a phantom maybe. Her mouth forms a little 'o' of understanding. "...because you can't have it, it makes you dream."

"Yes!" Judai snaps his fingers and almost makes a broom slap Ruri in the face. "That's it exactly! Just going the direct way is boring."

Slowly, Ruri smiles. Might be more of a grin. "I think I get it. You're someone who enjoys the way more than the actual goal. That's...wise. I think?"

Judai laughs. "It's more like I went to a duel school before and I liked wanting to go there a lot more than actually being there."

"Really? How come?" Ruri asks curiously. "Did you -"

A miniature cleaning droid suddenly falls from a shelve above them, nearly nailing Ruri on the head and making them jump from the in-the-closet-loud thud as it lands on the ground. They stare at it. It doesn't move, white outer shell revealing scratches as Ruri turns the D-Pad's light on it. Judai meets Ruri's eyes.

"...maybe want to continue outside?" She picks up her sentence with an abridged version. Dust drifts down from the cupboard above, disturbed when the robot fell. Ruri screws up her face, the white powder like very dry snow. Judai's lips twitch.

They just make it outside before bursting into peals of laughter and thus saving themselves from a miserable end in form of dust suffocation.

* * *

But that isn't the end of it.

It ends with Ruri ambushing Riku, Toru and him on their way home on day, linking her arms with Judai's right and Riku's left and dragging them with her in the opposite direction, an intimidating glow in her eyes.

"Hey!" Protests Riku, tearing his arm away roughly. "What the heck are you doing?"

Ruri smiles, blithely ignoring Riku's outburst. Judai catches Toru's eye briefly and they have to look away or risk bursting out laughing. For some reason both Ruri and Riku, usually mild tempered people, tend to light each others' fuse up like a rocket. It's hilarious. Unless you are caught in the middle of it. "We're going to Spade School."

..."Huh," Judai says as Riku starts to turn red and Toru just looks unhappy-and-trying-to-hide-it. "I don't think-"

Ruri claps her hands, beaming at them. "There's a special event at the school today and it's all guest students welcome. You simply _must_ come." Then, still smiling brightly and not-at-all-devious she drops the bomb shell. "Have you heard of Tenjo Kaito?"

(It's a sold deal after that.) Ruri catches his eyes and winks. Judai gives her a thumps up.

A couple miles on foot later, Judai blinks rapidly at a window of a reddish building. "...er..." he manages as he watches Ruri enter the Duel School. Toru is already inside. "If everyone is welcome, why are we climbing in through a window?"

Inside, Ruri straightens her skirt and folds her hands over it. "They've already started. We wouldn't want to cause a disturbance."

...Oh well. Whatever.

"Who cares," says Toru, eagerly already waiting at the abandoned classroom's door to the empty corridor.

Riku says nothing, avoiding to look at Ruri as he slips in after her. He isn't bristling in her presence, though, and he can barley conceal his curiosity despite the cold air he tries to put on.

(Yubel chuckles in his mind, endlessly entertained by the fact that for once Judai is not the rule-breaking influence. _Learn something from her_ , she tells him. _That's how you inspire fear to disobey without actually causing people to be afraid_.)

(Judai doesn't particularly want to learn how to do that. If he really needs to he figures he can just hire Ruri to do it for him.)

"There isn't actually an event, is there?" he says to Ruri in a low voice as he climbs in last, careful that the two at the door don't overhear him.

Ruri's poker-face is fantastic. "Sorry. But I couldn't think of anything else." To make up, as she's been trying for weeks. Riku can bear a _grudge_. Again, it doesn't help that they just rub each other the wrong way. Normally that would be more than enough reason for people to avoid each other. Spare everyone the headache. But not Ruri. "It's _Kaito._ "

"I think it's brilliant!" he says, almost laughing and trying to keep quiet. "But Riku won't."

"It's _Kaito."_ As though that's all the explanation needed. Maybe it is. She closes the window behind him with efficient twists of her fingers before she sweeps out of the classroom, finding her way through the building with long familiarity.

In front of a double-winged white door she comes to a stop and carefully, cautiously, presses her ear against it. Then, nodding to herself, she slips one wing a slit open, goes down on all fours and crawls inside.

Judai looks at his friends faces. Riku's brows are pulled together (what's really going on is probably occurring to him just about now), but Toru has no hesitance whatsoever. Neither does Judai. Sneaking in, not using any magic, risking getting caught (if Martha-san hears they'll be grounded till the end of the year!) to see one of the best duelist in the world? Count Judai _soooo_ in.

Inside, a lecture hall dips down to make space for at least seventy rows of seats which stretch more than fifty meters in either direction from their door.

 _Every single seat is filled_.

There are even people standing and Judai has to crawl between their legs to reach the place where Ruri and Toru have already inconspicuously joined the standing audience.

He can't believe the mass of people voluntarily showing up to listen to this person. In Academia the lecture halls were maaaaaybe half this size. And they were half filled by mandatory attendance at most.

Yubel pokes his mind. _Look,_ and briefly the world washes in color as her sight overtakes his.

 _Oh._

It's like looking at a small galaxy. All contained within a single person. If Judai listens closely, over the voice of the speaking person, he can hear the hum of a sleeping, big, big dragon.

 _Awesome._

Next to Judai Riku casually gets to his feet. Behind his glasses, his eyes glow as he watches, listens and soaks the voice of his idol up like a sponge.

Judai catches Ruri's eyes on the other side of Toru. She beams.

* * *

TBC

 _I'm sure all of you are familiar with the Japanese suffixes. I won't be using them constantly or even regularly- they just serve to make a point, which in this case is that Ruri doesn't know Judai-Riku-Toru very well yet and vise versa. The usual rules of Japanese politeness may say something different, but going by what we know of a) Heartland b) the Resistance their society seems to be a lot less concerned with proper forms of address. I mean, come on, how many people in Zexal actually got a suffix? Some of that is surely to be credited to Yuuma, but since he's not the only one skipping out on them..._


	9. II-I: with a smile

Part II-I

* * *

with a smile

* * *

Initially Tenjo Kaito had had better things to do than to visit one of the dime a dozen duel schools in Heartland and tell them about XYZ Summoning, being of the firm belief that if they needed to have their answers spelled out by him, they clearly weren't capable of the level he expects anyone to be at before deserving to be called a duelist.

However rather unfortunately Kaito's opinion had been vetoed (and he still scowls at the memory, vowing to get even); apparently he'd been slacking off on doing his part to inspire the future generation.

As if that is _his_ problem-

As if he didn't already do his part by ensuring there even _is_ a future generation-

Kaito forces a calm breath out, telling himself that this trip might still become worth his time after all. And continues his presentation.

The four latecomers have, of course, not escaped his notice.

Incidentally, thanks to Orbital in his ear, he also knows that one of them is the child his robot is still keeping an eye on. A child with whom so far nothing is unnatural beyond making his first appearance on record by being caught for burning a strange duel disk. A child, who Kaito would bet one of his Daybreakers on, is no more a normal human than Kaito is. A child who Kaito would bet Galaxy Eyes on is not of this world. A child, who has now stepped too close to the hunter.

Kaito isn't who he is for being _not_ who he is.

Time to see once and for all what is up with the boy, if anything at all. He needs to know if he has to prepare for some crisis that will lap up to the borders of this world or if it is little more than a wrong-place-wrong time case.

In short order, he cuts his original sentence short and continues it with, "a demonstration. Of the four latecomers. A volunteer."

The lines of students pause in their zealous note taking trading confused glances, before one after another turning to follow Kaito's stare. Said for are exposed as their camouflage of being one among many turns on them. Nothing moves for a long moment. They are too far away to see an expression.

But if they bother to sneak in they should know his reputation. A 'demonstration' is not going to be kind. Now, who -

"I volunteer."

The voice sounds of the right age, but its from the completely wrong location. Orbital is reliable as always and gives him a run down. "Sato Yuto, eleven. Five years of experience with the Spade School. A win ratio of 75%. Phantom Knights deck, a dragon type ace." Only the important information. As expected of Orbital.

"I didn't ask you," Kaito says shortly, not even bothering to look.

To his surprise, the boy doesn't sit back down. "They're my friends."

"I volunteer," speaks up the boy next to the first. "That's my sister."

"Kurosaki Shun, thirteen. Second year of sponsorship. Raid Raptors deck. Aims to be a professional duelist," lists Orbital.

"I volunteer." That's a girl's voice, and the right one. She even has her hand raised. "It was my idea, I'm sorry."

"Kurosaki Ruri. Eleven. Four years of experience with Spade School. Win ratio of 83%. Lyrical Luscinia deck."

"I volunteer!" A boy's voice. "Sorry we intruded, but -"

"Eriksen Judai, Master," confirms Orbital over the long-winded excuse that doesn't sound very apologetic at all. Finally.

"Enough," says Kaito, and the boy falls silent. "I asked for one volunteer, not four. But if that's the grave you want to lie in, be my guest. All four of you, come down."

They do. The two in their proper seat shuffle awkwardly out of their row, trading speaking glances. The boy and the girl come down the central steps, he with unconcerned ease and she staring at Kaito with determination.

"I hope you have brought your duel disks," states Kaito as they join him up stage.

They have.

The oldest boy shoots daggers from the corner of his eyes at Eriksen, but otherwise…

"Get ready."

Eriksen is the only one who falters, looking at Kaito with wide eyes. "Four against one?"

Kaito's lips curl. "You think it unfair?"

The boy opens his mouth. The girl and the boy who had volunteered first, Sato, hiss at him to be quiet.

Not quite hiding his skepticism, the boy shuts up, fixing his D-gazer.

"Duel!" They call at once.

Kaito doesn't make a move to draw, allowing them the first four turns. All of strategically sound mind, the one of them standing to the left of Kaito draws first. Boy Kurosaki.

He summons his monster, one become three in the blink of an eye and Kaito knows his style. Swarm tactics.

Next is Sato. Kaito's eyes escape nothing and he puts the moves the boy makes into tactical order. He most likely powers up his monsters with effects and spells.

Kurosaki Girl. Like her brother. Swarm tactics. It'll be dangerous to assume they share much of the same style, but at least the basics are clear.

And Eriksen. The boy is grinning as though he has no inkling of what Kaito has invited him down for. "Feather in the wind, spark of the fame. Unite and become a roaring blaze - Hear my call Elemental HERO Flame Wingman!" Polymerization. A Fusion monster.

If, now _if,_ the child is from this world that one Fusion monster would be his only one. Fusion is rare, difficult to incorporate into XYZ decks.

Not even the Barians or the residents of the Astral World used Polymerization with anything approaching frequency.

Well then, from how much further than their neighboring dimension(s) might this boy be?

Kaito will be interested to find out.

* * *

Dusk is falling by the time the duel school lets out, but the summer air keeps them warm. Judai stares dumbly at the sky.

The duel keeps replaying in his mind, but -

"Awesome."

"It's Kaito," says Riku, which is indeed all explanation that is needed.

Because.

Awesome!

Judai jumps, pumping his fists in the air. "Awesome!"

"Yes. You said so already," says Ruri's big brother flatly.

"But!" Judai beams. "He's soooooo good! I can't believe it! That a duelist as powerful as that could exist! Fusion superiority my foot, I didn't stand a chance. _We_ didn't stand a chance." He laughs, utterly delighted.

Ruri, the boy whose name Judai still doesn't know despite having dueled together, Ruri's brother, Toru and Riku all give him identical looks of incomprehension.

"It was humiliating," states Ruri's brother, as if he thinks Judai needs to be reminded.

"Who _cares?_ I can't beeeeelieve someone that good even _exists._ I'm so gonna get better. I can't believe I lost! I never lost before!"

"You lost against me," Toru says, an expression on his face that speaks of his offense that Judai just forgot.

"Not with his Fusion deck, he didn't," counters in Riku. "In your attempts at teaching him XYZ he lost. I'd like to see you try against that Fusion deck." He eyes Judai curiously and impressed. "I didn't know Fusion could be utilized that efficiently." Pause. "Not that you lasted long."

"Neither did I," chimes in Ruri. "How come you even use Fusion in the first place? Did they teach that at the Duel School you said you went to?"

Judai flaps a hand. "They also had courses on XYZ and Synchro at Duel Academia, but those _sucked_. They were all like, _here this is how it works, this is how you shut it down,_ and _Fusion is ten time better anyway._ " He sticks out his tongue, pulling a face. "I'd like them to say that again after they saw Kaito. I can't believe I lost that badly!"

The others sigh, almost in unison.

"It's Kaito," says the nameless boy.

Ruri's brother meanwhile starts to look annoyed. " _We_ lost."

"Even worse," insists Judai. "Four against one. Four. And _that_ badly. I didn't know you could even lose that badly. Not even the instructors back at my previous school could trounce me _that_ badly."

"I thought you just said you never lost before," cuts in Riku. Pointedly.

Judai doesn't see what's pointed. "That's my point. They couldn't beat me at all."

Riku's eyebrows rise. "They must not have been very good then."

" _Nothing_ against Kaito," Judai gushes.

The unnamed boy looks at Judai thoughtfully. "Why are you so shocked about this? It's Kaito. A result like this was expected."

Riku nods, pushing his glasses up.

Ruri just smiles, bag swinging with every step.

Judai blinks. Looks from one face to the next. Huh. He squints at them; Ruri, Unknown and Ruri's brother especially. "Aren't you shocked at all?"

Ruri's smile becomes a bit embarrassed. "I am. It's so different in person. _He's_ different. I think I learned a lot. I mean, we lasted two turns each, didn't we?"

"Only because he let us." Unknown shifts his bag from one shoulder to another. "I didn't even manage to get Dark Rebellion on the field. I think I learned the most about Fusion today," he admits though, shooting Judai a glance.

Judai turns that idea in his head. Again: huh. "You know I think you're right. I learned an awful lot about XYZ. You all use it like it's as easy as breathing, but it just doesn't click for me like that."

"You just need more practice," Toru huffs, crossing his arms and blowing a strand of hair out of his face.. "XYZ is an art, you know. Not everyone can do it. Or understand it."

"You say that but you can't even get your own XYZ monsters to fit your deck," jabs Riku, correcting his glasses with two fingers.

"Practice!" Judai exclaims, closed fist hitting his palm. He turns to face Ruri, and Unknown and Ruri's brother. "Will you duel me some time? You're so much better than these two!" He thumps at his two fellow orphans, who squawk in protest. It's true, though, that's why they're so shocked at Judai's Fusion.

"Sure I will," Ruri smiles. "You know you only need to ask. Anyone in school will. Especially once everyone knows you use Fusion. It's so rare! Everyone will want to have a go! Even Shun-nii-san. Don't you?" That last bit goes to her brother.

Ruri's-brother-Shun looks thoughtful for a moment, giving Judai an assessing once over. "I wouldn't mind more experience against a Fusion user. But we don't go to the same school."

"So after," says Ruri, her tone saying she's decided for him.

Toru huffs and Riku's eyes are dangerously narrowed on Judai, like he's a bug to be disected. "Toru, what do you think Martha-san will do if she finds out Judai sneaked into a Duel School and got in trouble?"

Judai feels his smile slip while Toru gains it in the form of a sun-bright grin. "You know, I think the tiles in the bathroom could use a good scrubbing. With a toothbrush."

"Then you're gonna do it with me! We were all there!" Judai retorts.

"So we were," agrees Riku simply. "But who is she going to believe? You? Or both of us?"

Judai squawks. "No fair!"

* * *

TBC

 _I've been hinting at it a bit but here's confirmation; yes, I'm going with the genuine ZEXAL cast. All memories, all past adventures included. Plus some obligatory post-canon allusions. Kaito is here as a guest lecturer and not a student from an rival school. About the Zexal kids' ages - they've all graduated High School, let's leave it at that._

 _What do you guys think of that? ;)_

 _I decided to give Yuto a surname for a number of reasons: a) it would have been awkward to have all the others lists by full names and Yuto just with his given name or for Orbital to just give close-and-personal first names, b) in this still-whole world the surname actually still serves a purpose, c) if I wanted to give Yuto some background, a family(name) had to be included. If it bothers you, don't worry - that name won't have many more appearances._

 _ _On a different note, most of the chapter titles for Part II are phrases taken from the Heartland Arc opening of the Arc-V anime 'Light of Hope', so don't be surprised if you recognize some. I gleefully seized the chance to incorporate those lyrics - Light of Hope is one of the best Yugioh Openings of all times!  
_ _Also, that heavy-cheery split in the song really fits (for obvious reasons) this Arc of Abyss.__ _  
_


	10. II-I: you can't run from karma

Part II-I

* * *

you can't run from karma

* * *

"Hey. Judai?"

Judai vaguely turns his head, tongue sticking out of his mouth as he tries to make the clay wing stick where it's supposed to belong. "Uh-hmm?"

"What's this 'Synchro' you mentioned the other day?"

If Yubel ever sees what Judai turned his art project into, she'll have his head, sworn to protect him or not. Even with the second wing, it doesn't look anything like her. Maybe a bit like Trauriger Drache. If you squint your eyes and tilt your head. His eyes flicker to Ruri. On her workbench next to his, her lump of clay has astonishing similarities with an actual bird. "Oh that? It's another Special Summoning method. Like XYZ. Or Fusion."

Ruri, in the process of attaching the beak, breaks the head clean off. Her head turns to him with raised eyebrows. "Excuse me? What do you mean 'another'?"

Erm.

* * *

Chris watches Kaito's eyebrows rise with every word.

He understands the feeling. Having listened to the recording a number of times already and having made a number of hypothesis on what seems to be every-day knowledge to the boy, Chris feels vaguely like a beginner.

And here he was, thinking they were actually pretty well educated on Duel Monsters and what other worlds might be like. Evidently not. The Barian and Astral Worlds both share their affinity with XYZ Summoning. Funny how it never occurred to Chris that there might be one that would favor Fusion.

Of the multitude of programs they have monitoring the city (and the world) the one that has given them the most information (on what is hopefully not going to become another mess) is a _passive, flag-triggered_ observation program that has technological devices within a certain radius of Eriksen Judai pay special attention to him.

The Tenjos all but rule the city so no one would protest too much if they found out about this invasion of privacy, but the thing is, it was _not_ supposed to be an invasion of privacy. It was just meant to be a way of cautious supervision and a way to have quick access to information if Eriksen _did_ turn out to have bad intentions. Orbital monitors it and many others at the same time - it really was set up to be just like a slightly specialized security camera. Yet the first thing Chris nearly stumbled over when he set foot in the lab after weeks of being out of country was a crazy-going Orbital and a distinct lack of Kaito.

Putting down the earphones, Kaito's brow gains a furrow of deep thought. Chris smiles wryly. "You know, it would be much easier if we just invited him and asked him personally. Going by how much he drops in casual conversation I don't think he's trying to hide or keep secrets." Folding his hands, resting them on their elbows on the table, Chris studies his younger friend's expression. "Don't you want to know more about this 'Synchro'?"

Kaito snorts, shooting him a glare. "Obviously. And if it were only that, I would."

"Then what is it? What have we got to lose?"

Kaito turns his back, taking the labcoat on the back of the chair on the other side of the table and pulling it over the casual wear he'd not yet changed out of after his near-sacred (and "not to be interrupted, Orbital") Haruto-time. "Did you see the report on the spatial disturbances? The recent ones?"

Chris follows Kaito into the (one of their many) lab. The neutral lighting illuminates a large hologram of their planet, color coded dots and zones spread all over the globe. "Not yet. I was planning to," he admits. He'd been on a research trip with his father and only just returned today after weeks of absence, so there is a lot he's behind on. "I was distracted by looking for a Duel School that focuses entirely on Fusion, a reference to Synchro and then by the implications when I, as expected, didn't find anything."

It still takes his breath away. The idea that there might be more worlds or dimensions or universes out there that are so near that they speak the same language, have closely aligning cultures, are populated by _humans_ , yet are so far away that even with all their research and all their disastrous dimensional incidents in the past they haven't even caught a glimpse of them.

Wordlessly, Kaito points him at a terminal where an open document fills the screen.

Chris leans over the back of a stool, not bothering to sit down. At first. "They're all the same as...Eriksen-kun's?" He mutters to himself. Their equipment recorded half a dozen spatial disturbances, all show the same frequency as the one Eriksen Judai made shortly before he was caught setting fire to a duel disk.

Chris scrolls further down, then cross-references with the data gathered on these other people that have come to their attention and that, upon further investigation, don't have any past whatsoever. Also just like Eriksen.

However…

The more Chris reads, the more uneasy he gets. These people...try to blend in. They are so far spread over two capital cities but in six different social classes. They even have fake records. Of graduations. Diplomas. Marriage.

Chris stands up. His chair topples over.

Kaito flicks him a neutral glance as Chris joins him at their prototype of a spatial frequency wave generator.

"They're infiltrating us." Chris' fingers tap nervously against his palms as he double checks Kaito's adjustments, their work suddenly like a weight on his shoulders. "...We need to tell the others."

What intentions these strangers have they don't know. It might not be anything bad. They might merely be cautious. Certainly, Chris would be were he in their shoes. But Chris and Kaito don't _know_ if that's merely all it is. Given their experiences, and the secrets someone might target this world for, they can't afford to not plan for the worst.

"Droite and Gauche will be returning to Heartland later this week," Kaito replies simply, preparing a sample for microscopic study.

Of course. Chris' heartbeat slows. Of course Kaito has already taken steps. If there's one thing he doesn't have in hand, though..."What about Yuuma?"

Kaito's eye twitches. Bingo. Chris sighs, a hand lifting to massage the bridge of his nose.

"What?!" Kaito snaps.

"Nothing," states Chris in a tone that very clearly says it is _some_ thing. "You do realize that if anyone one wanted to get their hands on the Numeron Code, Yuuma is going to be their target." A key to rewrite reality is without a doubt the most valuable object (for a given definition thereof) anyone, in a worst case scenario, could want. It's fortunately removed from the fickle hands of humanity, safely stored with a near-immortal being of steady, no-nonsense, difficult-to-be-swayed heart. Astral has one weakness, though. It's one many of them share. This weakness also coincidentally happens to be crucial for a stable bridge between the Astral World and theirs - without Yuuma the Emperor's Key is unreliable.

" _I_ realize that. How about you try breaking that to _him_."

Naturally, Yuuma completely fails to realize his own importance. As always.

It should be fine, the Numeron Code and Yuuma being a particularly closely guarded secret. Some alien spy or the like shouldn't be able to find out about that when even this world's governments haven't the faintest idea.

Point is however that they can't rely on that _should_.

 _Children_. Chris should really not have to think that about people in their twenties. Who have seen more than people trice their age. "I'll speak to Michael," Chris sighs. Maybe his little brother would be able to make Yuuma disappear for a while under the pretense of a friendly camping trip or something.

Kaito grunts.

Chris takes that as the thanks it is.

* * *

TBC

...you bet Kaito is keeping an eye on Judai. No way he isn't, not with the multi-dimensional stuff that ambushed them way too often in the past. The only reason Kaito (and others) haven't taken a more direct (rough) approach is that Judai is a kid. Eleven. Way too young, and very much not suspicious precisely because he isn't trying to hide his suspiciousness. I mean, what sort of evil-intended kid with a long term plan fails so completely at being normal?


	11. II-I: between conflicting ideals

Part II-I

* * *

between conflicting ideals

* * *

"Yuto's XYZ monster. What was it called again?"

"Dark Rebellion - Dragon. It's a Rank Four." Ruri blinks at him quizzically, a breeze blowing a strand of hair over her shoulder that she quickly brushes back.

He wonders if he has to clean his ears, because clearly they aren't working right. "You mean –- Dragon, right?"

…That is _not_ what he wanted to say...

Ruri gives him an odd look. "It's a dragon, yes."

Judai stares.

 _It's - Dragon,_ he wants to say, but refrains. Obviously something _strange_ is going on. He can't even gather the real name into _thoughts_. He just knows there _is_ a real name. Without ever having taken a look at the monster in question. But he is incapable of vocalizing it.

 _Everyone_ is incapable of vocalizing it.

Judai just seems to be the only one who _notices_ that it is continuously as though a word is scratched out of reality. Like a mistake erased in homework.

His gaze falls on the other boy getting ready on the other side of the duel court, checking over his deck and his disk. Dark hair unruly, nothing extraordinary about him, eyes a shade of gray like the morning sky in autumn. He cares for and defends his monsters, but, again, nothing extraordinary in the way they interact. He can't even see them.

Judai looks at Yuto, really _looks,_ but even then there is nothing even _hinting_ at a face so powerful it is spun into the fabric of the world.

He may not be the sharpest in the box, but Judai would bet his deck that Yuto has no idea about his dragon. _His_ dragon. (About _himself.)_

Judai activates the duel disk, setting his deck and extra deck.

"You can beat him, Judai!" Shouts Toru from the side, cheering. "Don't let him get started!" Next to him Riku has his D-pad's camera function activated to later analyze the duel.

From the other side of the field, Yuto meets his eyes and they both announce, "Duel!"

Is it a blessing, Judai wonders as they duel, to _not_ _know._

From the moment Judai was born, he'd known who and what he is. Though he is only just starting to _understand_ what it means, he has the information, Yubel made sure of that. What would it be like to not know why he is different – different from even those like him, like Johan? To never know why Yubel is tied to him – to be oblivious right up to the moment his destiny comes catching up?

Peaceful, Judai concludes, calling Elemental HERO The Earth to the field.

The Herald is reborn; thus there must be a reason for it. A reason that demand the flesh-and-blood form of a force of the universe. That reason is Judai's destiny, his _alone_ , and it is a daunting task that crushes him when he thinks about it too much. To live without that would be like flying. Like floating.

Like free falling. With only a painful end in sight.

Until that _moment_ comes, he would have peace, but that peace would come at a price.

Yuto overlays two Level Four monsters.

" _Storm the field with your black fangs. Rise now, Dark Rebellion - Dragon!"_

Wrong.

The dragon doesn't rise – it descends. It doesn't storm, it defies. Aggressively so. The roar the dragon gives bursts over Judai so harshly and _personally_ he has to brace his stance. There is a power in the game, a magic in the words, the summon chant a beacon for the monsters to find its way easier to the caller. Judai instinctively knows the right chant of any monster and the one that Yuto used _is not it_. That the call is _wrong_ but the monster's spirit is still more than happy to arrive -

By the obvious bond between Yuto and his dragon, Yuto _should_ know the right words. Yet he doesn't.

The dragon's form at the very least, seems to be true, though the hologram is not possessed as much as it is overshadowed by the true dragon. Another strange thing.

Judai breathes out slowly, his eyes taking in the magnificent creature. The sharp claws and fangs, the powerful wings, the tightly coiled muscles, the simmering power.

A slow, wide grin takes his face, forgetting all the stuff that doesn't really matter now and is too big to think about.

With that dragon, this duel is going to be _fun_.

* * *

Judai is being responsible today. According to Yubel it a novelty worthy of adding to the history books.

Holding hands with the little one of his orphanage, he is walking to the playground in the neighborhood, taking over a part that the caretaker usually does as the woman is busy. Judai volunteered, skipping out on hanging out with his friends in favor of doing this.

Personally, Yubel is very pleased with the development. Judai is a child still, but he is approaching the age of maturity with large steps. Seeing him grow into it naturally is a relief.

(Something she doubts Duel Academia would have been able to support him in. That school, though teaching him military and discipline, failed in all other subjects.)

Truly, as much as anonymity protects him, it annoys her in no small part that there seems to be no place able to provide him with all that he needs in his childhood anymore.

The King Farther had been truly wise to create Yubel for Judai. She cannot bear the thought of the kind of trouble he would get in without her.

Speaking of which, she also can not bear the sight of him rolling around in the sand like some lowly animal.

Crossing her arms, she disappears with a huff and lets Judai play around with that little girl.

* * *

School is getting boring again, though it isn't really the fault of the teacher. It's just…booooring. Yawning, he stretches his arms over his head.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he pushes to his feet and digs out his lunchbox. Toru is waiting for him at the door, his own little bag tucked under an arm as he bounces a basketball between his hands. Together they pick up Riku from the class next door and enter the grounds, going over to their usual place.

The ground is cold and slightly wet from the autumn air as Judai flops down. "Whatcha talking about?"

"The next Duel Carnival."

Judai looks at them blankly.

"It's a tournament," Ruri elaborates for Judai's benefit, her chopsticks moving on their own and taking a boiled tomato Yuto offers. "It's an international tournament that takes place only in Heartland. Shun is taking part this time."

"Seriously?!"Toru spits rice all over opposite sitting Riku, who shoots the other boy a glare so lethal it should put him six feet under. "You've got to get a special invite from the Major. Shun got one?! Pros from all over the world take part! Oh man, I wish I could too!" He stares dreamingly into thin air, imagining his path to the title. A leaf from the tree above lands on his hair like a silly crown.

Judai pushes a broccoli around absently. "What's so different to other tournaments? I mean, there are other tournaments, right?"

By now, his questions over the state of the world have become somewhat commonplace and no one even bothers to blink at him for not knowing something basic as that.

"It's special, because for participation in other tournaments, you needs to be qualified first. Be part of the pro leagues. There's all kinds of preliminaries, records of official duels you need to win before you're allowed to even take the regionals. And only if you win those and many after it, you get considered for the official World Championship." Explains Riku in his usual monotone, slightly irritated tone. His new glasses are a bit too big for him and slide down his nose. "Honestly, don't you read? The only thing you need to take part in the Duel Carnival is an invitation. The Heart Pieces are given out to no one in particular. Pros take part as much as normal people."

"If you're lucky enough to get an invite, its a chance to test ourselves against duelists all over the world. People like us against pros," Yuto adds, a glimmer in his eyes that says he would like to try the challenge. The grin on his face twitches with excitement.

"One day I'm gonna take part and then, baam! Instant Champion!" Toru shouts pumping his fist in the air. "Just like Yuuma!"

Riku snorts. "Maybe if you practice a hundred years."

"Hey! I could so do it! I only need a chance. Yuuma never won a tournament before either!"

"So?"

"The Duel Carnival is also the only tournament Kaito ever participates in anymore," Ruri tells Judai as Toru and Riku drift off into another bickering debate. "They say it's because it's organized by his father, but I bet it's because the Duel Carnival is the most fun. Once you're in, it doesn't matter who you are. It's everyone against everyone, and you can duel whoever you want and can even lose once without being thrown out."

"That sounds pretty cool," Judai muses, determination setting in. "Is there anything we can do to get an invitation? Like apply somewhere?"

Rusi shakes her head, a strand of hair coming lose and falling into her soft face. Her hair is so long, Judai wonders if it doesn't ever get in the way all the time. "Sadly no."

"Aw, that sucks." Judai blows out his cheeks in disappointment before it quickly disappears in favor of eager excitement."Shun gets to take part? When's the first duel? I gotta go watch."

"In two weeks," informs Yuto and they share a grin, one with an unspoken conversation.

 _Shun must be supported._

 _I say the one who manages to get Shun swamped by the most admirers wins._

Usually so focused and unflappable, Shun gets easily flustered by compliments and it's hilarious to see. It took Judai no time whatsoever to make sure Shun gets to be awkward as often as possible.

He'd been surprised that Yuto shared the feeling - Yuto just manages to be a lot more subtle about it and keep a brilliant poker face. Shun still has no idea his best friend had been plotting behind his back for _years_. Nowadays he shoots sharp looks at Judai when a crowd of adoring little fans appears from virtually nowhere. Judai thinks that's hilarious too, especially when Yuto's innocently neutral face is belied by an impish glow in his eyes when Shun's back is turned. It's _hilarious_. Judai can't wait to see Shun's expression once he connects the dots.

Ruri giggles. "Shun doesn't want to admit it, but he is really nervous. This is a big chance for him. He almost left home in his pajamas today, can you imagine."

Toru butts in, dropping his argument with Riku as though it never happened. "Hey do you think if I beat him in a duel, he's gonna let me take his place?"

"What are you? Stupid?" Riku questions without missing a beat. "Only a moron would bet a chance like that in a duel. Even against _you_."

Face flushing with anger at the tone, Toru rounds again on Riku. "What is that supposed to mean? Are you saying I'm not good enough?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. You lose to Makka half the time. I know you say you let her, but if you're serious about wanting to go pro, you've got -"

The other three of them block the two out. Them fighting gets glossed over as often as Judai's weirdness, not that Judai knows that.

"It really sounds awesome," says Judai wistfully, chewing on his chopsticks without noticing. "It would have been so much fun to duel everyone…"

Yuto sighs in agreement. "Yeah. Maybe next year."

"Next year for sure," Judai says, dreaming.

"Next year," determines Ruri. "And this year, my brother is going to win it."

(Unbeknownst to Judai, in the bin at home, which Martha-san is emptying into the trash just then, a package lies. Hidden under balls of paper and magazines and empty chip bags, a packet is addressed to Judai, unopened. Inside it, two ruby red stones are waiting, a white letter confirming what they mean. Yubel has no regrets.)

* * *

TBC

 _About Dark Rebellion. Taking into account what the En Cards did to a) the dimension b) the two people involved in the duel c) how completely they shut down and erased Supreme Dragon King Zarc's Fusion/Synchro/XYZ calssification, there's_ no way ever _that I buy that the four component dragons just_ yes goodbye have a nice life no hard feelings _came out of that battle unscratched. Especially since the En Cards were activated against_ them **and** Zarc, _and not just Zarc alone. Uh-huh,_ no way in hell _did they just walk that off. The fact that they want to become that SKDZarc (as seen basically throughout the entire series) and fear Rey (as discovered by Yuya/Zarc 2.0) supports this._  
 _Therefore it is my belief that all of them (except Odd-Eyes Dragon, because Odd-Eyes was a Normal Monster and the En Cards had nothing to say about Normal Monsters) were sealed/suppressed/weakened in one way or another. Until the moment comes where that seal is overpowered/broken. How does that happen? Wait and see. But you can take what we will see happening to Yuto (more or less) exemplary.  
_

 _About why Judai notices that something is off with Dark Rebellion - his senses and Yubel's eyes, Yubel's knowledge (which she teaches to Judai) and their combined power can notice a_ lot _. If we go though the GX anime's last two seasons we see a lot of what those eyes of Yubel's are capable of (see the darkness in someone's heart, see through disguises, see visions, see energy/auras, etc). And that's just Yubel alone. Dark Rebellion/Yuto/Zarc's will are not at all subtle either. In fact, there was no reasonable explanation that I could think of that would leave Judai_ not _knowing about_ something _being off._


	12. II-I: pave the way to our future

Part II-I

* * *

pave the way to our future

* * *

"Go! Go! Go! Go, Shun!"

"Watch the set card! I bet it's a trap!"

The Duel Carnival turns a lively city into a whirlpool of excitement. Everywhere the streets are blocked, free game to duel, duels take place all over. On rooftops, parks, streets, the mall, crossroads, the skytrain. The duelist partaking in the tournament wear their Heart Pieces around their neck to be easily recognizable. The whole city is vibrating.

Around Shun's neck dangle four as he commands his Raid Raptors to tear their prey apart. Their claws curve wickedly, their screeches are full of primal delight, their beaks gleam, and their eyes are orbs of fire.

Judai is happy. On the sidelines, he chews on a bag of popcorn next to Ruri's animated cheering and Yuto's silent support. On his other side stands Toru shouting advice with his total lack of awareness. Riku makes notes of his own, no doubt using the mistakes and or tactics he sees to further his own skills.

* * *

Meanwhile, Heartland's security makes an arrest of a man that recently moved here, papers, passports, biography all in order. Unfortunately for him, it's not enough when there were intelligent eyes on him the moment he first stepped out from behind a tree. Observing as said papers get created does a number on their legitimacy.

Those charges aren't the ones he's taken in for, of course. They do not want to start a conflict.

A case of wrong parking and faked mistaken identity can go a long way. Long enough in this case.

Just some simple questions. Where did you come from? Why did you move here? Why did you park there? Did you see this man? Has anything caught your eye? Was there anything suspicious? What did you think of XXX, and so forth.

Kaito stands behind a one-way mirror, watching as Droite, supposedly a police inspector, soothes the ruffled man's feathers. They'll have to see if they can get a chance to have a look at their D-pad. It looks subtly different from the mainstream model, nothing that can't be passed off as individualizing, but Kaito doesn't believe that is all for a second.

The accent the man speaks is seemingly North American, but with the plentiful of samples they have from Eriksen and his not-at-all-disguised accent, some similarities in vowel pronunciation and consonant rolling is apparent.

More and more it looks like Eriksen must come from the same place.

Slanting a look at the comrade at his side, Kaito asks, "what do you think?"

Ryoga's gaze is narrowed on their subject. The corner of his mouth chews on the tip of his thumb while his other arm is crossed over his chest. "That man has military training. The way he words his answers and keeps his questions simple...that's standard. I had my spies capable of making up lies on the fly without blinking. It works only of you drill a mind over a relatively long time to think in half-lies and half-truths. It's extensive and time consuming. The results were excellent. But it had a one down-side. There was no hesitation in the answers. Any answers" Shark flicks a hard look at Kaito. "If I asked you to tell me why your D-pad's display has the background it has, would you be able to answer immediately?"

No. Kaito would have to think, if only for a couple seconds. The man Droite keeps engaged...doesn't do that. Sure, sometimes he pauses. But...you can't see the thought process in his eyes.

Kaito didn't notice before. His observations ended with those genuine seeming thinking pauses.

The experience of a former king. Kaito is anything but ordinary, but among the top three duelists in the world, he's the only one counting as 100% human. He finds that incredibly ironic, considering.

Not needing a verbal reply, his friend curls a sardonic smirk. "Want to know something even better? That's not the behavior of someone in friendly environment."

Of course it isn't.

Wonderful.

"Now what was this that I heard about some kid from the same world as this guy? You have a talk with him yet?"

Kaito scoffs. "He was invited to take part in the Carnival."

"By your tone I'm assuming he doesn't participate. What did he do? Run for the hills?"

"The package floated itself into the bin." While the child in question was miles away no less. Kaito would love to clear that up as well, but he's got bigger problems, frankly, and he can take an educated guess anyway.

"...hoh."

* * *

"It's a shame you didn't win."

Shun throws him a glare over his shoulder that speaks volumes about how appreciated the comment is. Naturally, Judai ignores it. "Next time it'll only be harder when we're all taking part as well."

Snorting, Shun rolls his eyes. But the slump of his shoulders tells how very much it does matter even though he tries to pretend it doesn't.

"No really," Judai insist. "You made it to the second stage! And you even got to duel Kaito! Next year they'll have to invite you again! And I bet if we go speak with the Mayor, we can all get invited. I mean, if we ask nicely."

Stopping, Shun gives Judai a disbelieving stare. Funny how often that seems to be a reaction to him.

Shun says, almost sounding pained, "you can't just walk up to the Mayor and demand something that everyone in this city wants. That's not how it works."

Judai shrugs his shoulders. "Maybe then its time to start making it work that way."

Shun just rolls his eyes again, pointedly and exasperated, but also amused enough that it lifts the heavy air of defeat.

Judai flashes a grin, and runs ahead, jumping down half a dozen stairs. _Mission success!_ "Come on! I bet I can wipe the floor with you!"

"I don't have time. I've got to take care of Ruri. Or did you forget she's sick?"

Sick, probably watched her brother being defeated on live-television, and knowing her the last thing she'll be doing right now is lying in bed and resting. If Judai had to venture a guess, he'd say she's even now helping her parents prepare some consolation dinner or something.

"She's got Yuto!"

"He's sick too!"

And the look Yuto'd had on his face this morning, when Judai had met up with Shun at the Kurosaki's house, told volumes about how uncomfortable it made him to impose on a friend's family in that condition. But the sick need to be cared for and Judai is shocked Yuto still hasn't gotten used to being taken care of. Since his own parents can't take off from work to take care of him, Yuto being sick has equaled Yuto staying over at the Kurosaki's for years now. Or so Judai understood it. Yuto should just enjoy being mothered and accept his fate.

(...not that Judai is in any position to throw stones...)

Point being, Shun really doesn't need to rain in on his family (and friend) with this sort of temper. "Awwww, come on Shun. Don't be afraid to lose. It happens to everyone."

Judai grins as Shun visibly grits his teeth. Closes his eyes, exhales. Opens them and glares at Judai with hellfire. " _I_ am going wipe the floor with _you_."

* * *

TBC

 _At this point the Powers That Be in Heartland do indeed have Judai on near 24/7 passive watch. They aren't sure he's involved with these strangers, or in what manner so it's all from enough distance that not even Yubel notices. Granted, she found the coincidence that Judai should get heartpieces a bit too suspicious (rightly so), but that was easily taken care off and dealt with._

 _Basically Judai gets the benefit of the doubt, especially since he's a not-yet twelve year old kid. Experienced the Heartlanders might be, child-spies...are not on the list of possibilities their minds jump to. They are not above using whatever the hell of information they can get from Judai of course but they aren't at that point in the investigation yet. Instead that Duel Carnival participation was meant to be a test of his skills, demeanor in the spotlight, reaction under (peer)pressure, etc._


	13. II-I: there's no way out

Part II-I

* * *

there's no way out

* * *

In mid autuum, a woman rings the bell of the orphanage on a Saturday morning. When the Matron calls Judai down to meet a woman in a black suit who'd like to talk to him about the place he came from with a polite but firm smile on her face Judai feels his eyebrows shoot up and Yubel flare to sudden, angry attention.

Martha-san looks a bit concerned, hesitating over if she should allow it.

So Judai grins at the strange woman, who introduces herself as Droite, and says he'll answer any question if she treats him to the all-you-can-eat cake-buffet that's being offered in a nearby hotel.

Judai gets his cake and a new contact on his D-pad.

Droite, after three hours, realizes that the wealth of information they have in Judai can not be explored in one day. After paying, she thanks the boy and packs her notes and the recording of the interview.

"Say, Neesan, if you knew I was from a different world, why are you only just asking now?" The boy asks before she can rise, brown eyes under brown hair that is just a shade darker study her with somber intelligence. "Is something going on?"

Droite returns the intense study. She thinks she can see how, even though his current grades do not reflect it at all, his previous school offered (according to his own statement) no challenge to him. "Not something that is of your interest. Yet. Rest assured, you will hear from us. Soon."

Mouth twisting a bit, the child nods. "If there's something I can help with, just ask."

Droite pauses. "I'll pass that along."

* * *

Judai does hear from... _whoever_. The contact is anonymous, but a mail with a big file with forms attached arrives later that evening.

Many questions, requests for descriptions, all that he knows about Fusion, all that he knew about XYZ before he came here, all about Synchro. How does dimension travel function? He is to write an extensive report of his home world's culture. A list of questions about the reasons and ways that brought Judai here.

He's never done so much homework in his life and he procrastinates as much as he feels he can get away with.

It's the next batch of questions though, building on the information Judai provided, that has him sit in the orphanage's studyroom, touch-pen whipping between his teeth.

 _Please clarify what you mean by 'unifying the four dimensions'._

 _Please provide a summary of 'the four dimensions'._

 _Please define your family's business 'expansion interests' as extensively as possible._

 _Please describe the different branches of Duel Academia and their purpose is as much detail as possible._

 _What role would you say has Duel Monsters in the Fusion Dimension?_

 _Who is 'the Professor'?_

 _How many duelists do you think Duel Academia has available?_

And so on and so on.

The questions are...Judai isn't stupid. If he answers them, he'll become a traitor. How heavy that accusation is depends on Academia's intentions, but that doesn't change the fact that he sold out potentially dangerous information about his home world, the place that raised him - where Johan is, his parents are, Kageyama and Tenjoin-sensei are – to people whose face he hasn't even seen.

On the other hand there are Ruri, Riku, Toru, Yuto, Makka, Martha-san and Shun here.

Before he can weight them against each other, he reminds himself that he _Does Not Have to Choose_. That's _not_ what this is about. It's just information. About Academia, mostly. The overall picture is: how stands Academia to Heartland? Between those two he does have to choose if only by implication. And that's not a difficult one.

Still, Judai finds he can't answer all questions and the answers that he does have, in light of the lack of many others, give him a bad feeling. The thoughts he trades with Yubel reveal that what Judai only now starts to grasp is why she wanted Judai _gone_ from Academia.

Yes, it's not a hard choice between Heartland and Academia at all.

If these people didn't seem to have clued in on Academia's true face (whatever that may still be) faster than him, Judai would now add a PS to his second return mail suggesting that maybe Academia should be approached with the same caution one pays any reverse card.

Looking over the two dozen pages he wrote in ten hours, Judai feels the hairs at the back of his neck rising.

That evening, before going to sleep, Judai goes through his deck and puts all cards not included in his strongest lineup in his side-deck. That night in his dreams he and Yubel track through the Everlost Woods at the foot of the World Tree, putting together a deck for her. You never know.

* * *

TBC

 _Judai is optimistic and partly in denial about Academia's true intentions. But to be fair, what elven year old child would jump to total war/invasion as an actual plan. The thought has occurred to him, a duelist's anticipate-the-next-move thinking shining through, but he doesn't believe anyone could do that. Want that. Deliberately, purposefully plan war without even attempting to negotiate. No sane, reasonable man would. If not for moral reasons, then for cost-benefit. Of course Judai's arguments are valid. It's just fact that the Professor indoctrinated Academia to a false-pretense aim that throws every prediction off. No one knows the Professor's true aim, which makes him difficult to anticipate. And, of course, the Professor is_ not _reasonable. Sometimes not even logical._


	14. II-I: cloud-ruled sky

Part II-I

* * *

cloud-ruled sky

* * *

Autumn draws to an end, rust colored leaves covering the streets. Wind tears them into the clear sky, making them dance. Breath clouds in front of Yuto's face as he locks the door behind him.

As he makes his way to the spot he meets Shun and Ruri every morning, he muses that it won't be long now and they can all go to school together again. Shun being two years older splits them across schools, but the next year is one they'll have together. Before Shun moves on to high school.

Yuto is looking forward to it.

The air is fresh and cool and biting, and Yuto tugs his scarf closer around his face.

At this time, Heartland is still only just waking up. The city is noticeably quieter, stiller in a way that it can't reach during day time or the late evening hours. Usually he enjoys it, but today it seems almost ghostly. Yuto shivers, tells himself its from the cold, and hurries to the usual place.

Judai waiting for him there, perching on a bench, watching the clouds.

Yuto blinks.

"Hey," says Yuto suspiciously, glancing around. "Where are Shun and Ruri?" He hopes they hurry. Suspicion is well warranted with Judai. Chances are that since he's here when he's not supposed to be that Yuto better adjust his brain to Judai-filter or risk ending up horribly confused.

"Good morning!" Judai chirps, hopping down from his elevated seat on a garden wall with sure-footed ease. "Or not. Ruri and Shun won't come to school today. Something happened."

..."What do you mean?"

Judai shrugs, his favorite reply to leave someone hanging in the middle of a conversation that no one but Judai thinks is over. He does that often, Yuto notices. "Toru and Riku went ahead. I came to pick you up. Figured it's not nice to wait in the cold. Or to find out second hand."

"Thanks," Yuto says first of all. Then he tries to make actually sense of that. Wordlessly, the two of them start on the way to school. Ruri and Shun not coming can be believed. Judai doesn't lie, not even for a practical joke or to be confusing. This isn't his style anyway. Judai doesn't actually 'play' practical jokes at all. He just is the way he is and that just happens to be someone who often causes bafflement. He doesn't do it on purpose.

But sometimes he speaks and it might as well be a different language for as much sense he makes. Yuto has a feeling this is going to be one of those situations. For a moment he debates if he should actually bother. He sighs. "To find out what second hand?"

In his peripheral vision he sees Judai cross his arms behind his head. "Don't know. It was just a hunch, but they weren't here, so…."

Yeah, and now he stopped making sense. So there isn't anything for Yuto to find out from Judai despite - Yuto checks his D-pad; there is no message from either Shun or Ruri wondering what's taking him so long – there actually being _some_ thing that indeed prevents their friends from coming to school. So Judai was right. Despite _not_ _actually_ knowing anything himself. Or something along those lines.

Yuto sighs _deeply._ "Do I want to know what made you think that?"

"Huh?" Judai looks at him as though _he_ is the odd one. "I just woke up this morning assuming that today they're not going to come to school." He sticks out his tongue, screwing up face but with a semblance of seriousness beneath it. "You shouldn't have to deal with that. Waiting, them not coming, and more waiting and worrying. Not knowing is a horrible thing."

Something about the way Judai pronounces the last part sticks out to Yuto.

Judai's eyes meet his. There is a somber weight in them that has Yuto slow his steps for a moment.

"Actually," speaks Judai, gaze falling away to look ahead, tone subdued. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about anyway. Do you mind if we skip today?"

Yuto feels his eyebrows rise rapidly. "You want to what?" He must be joking. The rapid change from one topic to the next doesn't even make Yuto blink anymore; when they had only gotten to know each other, Yuto's head tended to spin after talking to Judai for too long.

Judai doesn't look like he's joking. He pulls at the straps of his bag distractedly. There is no lightheartedness anywhere to be found and that more than anything clues Yuto in how serious Judai is. "You know I notice things other people don't, right? It has to do with that. And your Dark Rebellion."

Yuto's feet stop.

Stopping as well, Judai looks at his face again. What he sees there makes him smile (it only has an echo of its usual force) and change direction. They head away from the school, towards the skytrain station.

Yuto finds his head curiosity empty of questions as they get on a line that carries them to one of the less frequented duel parks. Judai is also uncharacteristically silent until they arrive.

They claim and empty court and Yuto follows Judai's silent lead, plopping down on the cool ground and taking out his deck. He notices Judai's eyes dart to Dark Rebellion immediately. Yuto suddenly finds himself irrationally angry and defensive. He bites it down.

Judai noticed, though, going by his look. It surprises Yuto that he isn't offended or even surprised. Yuto would be in his place. He is even surprised at himself. Judai is one of his best friends. He's seen and even held Dark Rebellion a number of times. There is no reason whatsoever to be upset or feel pressured.

"I thought a lot about how to best talk to you about this," Judai begins, looking at their cards and studiously avoiding Yuto. "It's important, but I don't know how or why. And between Yubel and me, I _really_ should know. It doesn't help that I don't have the words to describe what I just," he halts, hesitating. " _Know_."

Yubel? Yuto tries to crack a grin to lighten the mood. "If you are trying to explain something about why you sometimes don't make sense, you're off on a bad start."

Judai pulls a grimace, the expression the first sign _eve_ r that Judai is even aware that people sometimes just don't understand him. "I know," he admits, pained. "That's why I usually don't try to explain. But this is _important_. And once you get it...it'll be easier. I'm sorry, though. Because even just knowledge like this comes at a price." He shifts uncomfortably, crossing and uncrossing his legs, still avoiding to look at Yuto. "Yubel and me, we agreed that the easiest way to make you understand is this." His hands glide over the fanned cards of his deck but don't pick a single one. Instead he holds a hand between them, three fingers together as though holding a card between them. There is none.

Before Yuto's eyes wisps of s _omething,_ like dark fog, gather and...peel away to leave a card behind.

"This is Yubel." Judai hands it to Yuto, who's hand move on autopilot, taking it numbly.

A ten star monster, not one of Judai's favored Extra Deck. In Yuto's hands the card has an immense weight and the eyes of of the creature displayed are so spellbinding, Yuto doesn't even manage to take in the rest of it.

Yuto stares at it and can't look away.

When Judai takes it from him, he has no idea how much time passed. Or how oppressively _powerful_ it felt. Like a heart. Like a conscious _mind_ , whose full regard was on Yuto, measuring him, observing him.

In Judai's hands, the card blurs into nothingness.

"That's Yubel," Judi repeats, tone soft and fond. He pauses for a moment. "But that's not what I meant. That was Yubel and thanks to Yubel _this_ lets me see a lot of immaterial-things." Judai finally meet's Yuto's eyes again, only for his dark brown color to _change_.

The dark brown, almost black _ripples_ , like a stone in a lake. Color bleeds into the iris, disconcerting and off-setting. Yuto jerks back on instinct, his weight falling on his hands.

Having had those eyes stare into his soul not even a minute before from printed paper, there is no way Yuto doesn't recognize them. Orange and turquoise. Flat and alien clear in their color. The pupils small pricks.

Yuto _stares_. A shiver runs up his spine, because _how_ , but at the same time the feeling looking at those eyes like this is a lot less horrible than having them pierce him from a card.

He tries to swallow, his throat dry.

...Knowing somewhat peripherally that Judai is somewhat _different_ is one thing _,_ to see and feel the real, actual _reason_ for it is an entirely different one.

His stomach twists. Why did Judai choose to tell him this? To show him? What is so important that he goes out of his way to so something he _clearly_ doesn't want?

Judai blinks, the color stays. Then, his eyes drop down in a direction that has the hair at the back of Yuto's neck stand. At Dark Rebellion. A leaden weight drops in the pit of his stomach.

Suddenly he begins to grasp just how _serious_ Judai thinks something about _Yuto's Dark Rebellion_ is.

Instinctively, Yuto reaches for it.

Judai's eerie eyes follow the card, not his hands. His brows pull together in consternation. Another breath, followed by a blink and the color is gone. Judai blows out a breath and runs both hands through his hair in frustration, resting his elbows on his knees and leaning on them. "This is gonna be soooooo complicated to explain. Doesn't help that I don't actually know what exactly is going on..." He grimaces at nothing.

Yuto breathes in deep and clamps down on his nerves, the effort the conscious action takes distracting and grounding. Already his head spins Judai has not even _started_ on what really prompted this talk. Yuto wants to get up and walk away, but he shoves the desire down. Judai had the courage to speak up, so Yuto owes him the courage to listen. "Try. We've got time, don't we?" Yuto says, trying for deadpan. They are skipping school in fact.

Judai cracks a wry grin behind his hands, which Yuto only just manages to catch. But when he starts talking, he looks up and appears somewhat less torn. "True. Let's start with the basics then. What do you know about Duel Monster Spirits?"

* * *

The door bell is ringing.

Putting down a dinner he doesn't taste, Yuto glances at the clock. When he's sat down it had been seven o'clock. It's half past nine now. Wearily, Yuto pushes the chair back and trudges towards the door, wondering who it could be.

His parents have keys, if they return at all.

It's Judai, Toru and Riku. "Yo, Yuto," Toru greets, lifting a hand in greeting. Without waiting for an invitation, he slides off his shoes and comes in. "Nice house you have."

Riku hands him a large, lidded pot. "Please excuse our intrusion. Martha-san made extra. We hope you like it." Basic manners taking over, Yuto takes it and Riku seems to interpret that as permission enough to follow his house-brother inside.

That leaves Judai and Yuto standing in the entrance alone. Judai has several bags on his person and looks for once just as awkward as Yuto feels, but that changes nothing about the fact that Judai is just about the last person Yuto wants to see right now. What is he supposed to do though? Close the door in his face? Judai doesn't deserve that. It's not like anything is his fault.

Yuto wordlessly turns around. "Come on in."

He hears Judai release a breath of relief. "Sorry," Judai says, toeing his shoes off. "It wasn't my idea. I mean it was, but not and I-"

"Judai," says Yuto quietly. Judai shuts up immediately. "It's nothing personal, but I really can't take your chattering right now."

He more feels than sees Judai grimace. But he doesn't say anything, and Yuto has the ugly idea that Judai understands exactly what Yuto is going through. That doesn't make it better. At all.

In the living room, Riku and Toru wait for them, eying the unfamiliar surroundings with deep suspicion that they try to hide by casually looking around. The house of two doctors is probably a lot different than an orphanage.

"I was just eating dinner," Yuto tells them, taking his mostly untouched plate and dropping it in the sink. "Why did you come by?"

Silence. The three orphans (though _is_ Judai?) glance between each other.

The silent conversation ends up with Toru being the one stuck explaining. He clears his throat a few times to stall. "Er. Um. You know." He stares at Yuto. Yuto stares blankly back, unable to summon any sincere or even polite expression. "WehearsbouttheKurosakisandthenJudaimentionedyoulikelivewiththemusuallyandwethought – we should visit you. For a sleepover. You know."

Yuto's gut twists.

As if his day didn't start bad enough -

(" _So I'm..._ _?"_

" _It might not matter, you know. If -"_

" _But you_ _think it does."_

 _Judai, looking at him for a long moment. "...yeah."_

 _Numbly, Yuto looks down at Dark Rebellion's familiar card in his hands._ " _How can you tell?_ _" Yuto doesn't want it to be - doesn't doesn'tdoesn'_ _t_ doesn't _-_

" _A bad feeling I get when I look at you too long with Yubel's eyes." Frankly said, not even apologetic. Just matter-of factly._

" _How?"_

" _What?"_

" _How are Dark Rebellion and I different? You just made a hologram physical. Is that -"_

 _Judai looks away. "I don't know. That's just a side-effect for me, not the actual…ability. It's just a guess, but in a duel there's a good chance you'll be able to do that too. With Dark Rebellion, maybe with others."_

" _...a_ side-effect." _Making a duel monster real enough to chat and eat lunch with you is a_ side-effect _. And_ Yuto _-_

 _With resignation and sadness, Judai's voice continues,_ " _Before it's a game,_ _Duel Monsters is an old ritual. If there's enough energy put into it – the fate of a world can depend on the outcome of a duel if you're unlucky."_

 _...what._

 _But Duel Monsters is just - it's for fun, to be happy. A game where everyone - ...but before he can even finish the thought a chill runs down his spine._

 _Sometimes he thinks he can hear Dark Rebellion speak to him. How can ink on paper in a_ game _speak to him? He knows that Ruri built her deck on her own, but she said the cards helped her. Don't his own do the same for him?_

 _...how can the right card come in just the right moment when a shuffled deck should let it be mere chance? He's always accepted that as normal…but if he thinks about it, it's outside of the probability theory they learn in school._

 _Dark Rebellion Dragon's eyes seem to look back at him, dark orbs pressing down on him almost physically._ _He feels as though he's watching a stranger struggle through thought while he himself is safe behind a screen._

 _Judai's unhappy smile gains a darkly ironic twist when Yuto finally manages to tear himself free of his dragon. "If you're just a Trigger, then chances are good nothing's gonna fall on your shoulders. This is a peaceful, good world after all. But if not - things that involve the 'bigger picture'_ always _come with a price… I'm not telling you your future or anything - but I just thought you might want a warning. Before you don't even recognize yourself anymore." Uncharacteristically flatly Judai adds, "if I were in your shoes, I would have wanted one."_

 _Yuto can't deal with those implications on top of his own, instead his gaze drops again to the cards spread between them. "...and Dark Rebellion is -?"_

" _Yeah. Hopefully you can't sense anything. But." Judai looks at him steadily. "You can, can't you?" He bits his lip. "That's...not a good sign. But hopefully that's as far as it goes.")_

\- with an ominous and far too true ringing conversation that has Yuto suddenly question _every little coincidence_ in his life (How _did_ he get Dark Rebellion?) and about himself, he returns home to a message on the answering machine that his parents are doing an emergency surgery on the Kurosaki family.

He spend more of his childhood at Ruri and Shun's, ate more home-cooked meals made by their mother than his own while his parents were working to save lives at the hospital as the two top surgeons. It had often been a cold comfort to him, but now it's the only reassurance he has. They're the best around, they _have_ to be enough -

His mind wants to wander, drifting off towards might-bes and what-ifs.

Yuto manages to pull it back and offer a snack to his guests.

When their faces light up he belatedly realizes that his lack of refusal to their sleepover plans can be interpreted as agreement.

Yuto doesn't want to have a sleepover. "We have a guest room upstairs. Are you okay with sharing?" He thinks for a moment, knowing that dragging his heels won't make the situation go away. "If not, we can spread bedmats in my parents' room. They aren't going to come home tonight."

"Sharing is good," Toru insists, grinning with more teeth than natural to bulldoze over any lingering awkwardness. "Right?"

Judai and Riku are quick to nod their agreement, all too eager to not be a bother in direct contrast to them dropping in unannounced in the first place. Yuto doesn't have the energy to shrug, just leads the way up the stairs, to the last room on the right, the three trailing after him silently. If the silence is awkward, he doesn't have energy to care about that either.

"Here you go," he tells them, watches as they start to spread their things before silently withdrawing into the corridor. His socked feet pad without noise over the parquet, the light from the ceiling throwing his shadow into especially sharp contrast as moves to the stairs. Behind him, a quiet click of a door closing sounds.

"Yuto."

Yuto pauses, not turning around. Everything is brightly lit, but he feels as though everything is colorless, drained and meaningless.

To be quite truthful, it's not what he learned from his talk with Judai that makes him want to put a fist through the wall. Lack of foreseeable future, lingering confusion and shock Yuto could have dealt with. It was strange, and new, and so big Yuto couldn't grasp it at all. Being told basically _if you press this button, the trigger inside you will go off_ was easy enough to put out of his mind, because it didn't really matter - because why would the button be pressed? And if it isn't pressed, it's the same as not being there.

But then he returned home from skipping school, head still spinning with so much new information that he almost walked into a door, only to hear _that_ message. To call the hospital, and hear, and rush there, and _wait,_ helplessly and powerlessly, if his closest friends would survive. To be told to go home and rest and _Drs. Sato left instructions to call you as soon as we have results_ and to feel the world dropping away from under him, finding himself thinking _if only I could_ -

And then the shocked realization of _how far_ he would go to protect his friends. Or heal them. Or keep them from harm.

Everyone does of course. Children bargain with their parents all the time. _I'll never eat sweets again, so can Tomtom get better?_

The difference is that Yuto, unlike everyone else, _could_ do something. That someday, it might be that he would have to bargain for lives. That maybe he could find himself in a position of _I'll give up this-and-that so long as xxx_.

That's _terrifying_.

Worse, as much as the fear kills his mind and gnaws his heart at the very possibility, if he had any special skills, doesn't that mean he had an obligation to use it?

If he could heal people like he so desperately wants right now, it would consume his life. _Him._ How could he ever stop with just Ruri and Shun and their parents and maybe everyone in the hospital. Healing, healing, healing, because there is always more to heal and not to means to leave people feel like he feels right now. Without an end. Until there is no Yuto anymore. Just 'healing' and the body that enacts it.

The entire point is moot, because Yuto doesn't have any power (and he knows himself well enough that whatever would be and will hopefully never become, it won't be _healing_ ), can't do _anything_ to make sure his friends survive the night. And that might be the most horrible thing of all.

If the button is pressed, Yuto might find himself, as Judai so nicely put it, in a duel with the fate of the world on the line, and Yuto finds himself thinking he'd gladly accept that fate if only it meant he could do something for Shun and Ruri _now_. _No matter the cost_. That is an all-consuming realization he can't wake up from. No matter what it he would have to give up, or sacrifice, or what the rest of his life might look like. And that puts him back to being terrified.

"How do you do it?"

Judai is silent, paces behind him, but Yuto feels his presence as acutely as though he were using his eyes. Is this 'unnatural _'_ already? Yuto doesn't know, doesn't want to know. He just wants this day to have never happened.

Being able to see spirits, talk with them, hear them, interact with them when no one else around him can. That's what Judai can do. What that actually means is that he's able to draw on the powers of spirits, channel them, to have the abilities of any monster and any spell he chooses at his disposal. Set a fire? Little more than a snap of fingers. Make a flower bloom? Have a magician use a spell for him.

All that power must be _crushing_ him under its weight.

Living with the knowledge that no one else can, and that even if he were to explain they wouldn't be able to understand what it's like and suffer from that... living like that – one foot in the visible world, one in another that _doesn't just let him go to live his life,_ always demanding something of him.

Judai didn't say it like that, but Yuto suddenly gained a lot more insight and can fill in the blanks. It's a wonder Judai isn't a lunatic or a criminal mastermind or _whatever_ just to fill the hole.

"I'm not alone," says Judai simply. Then, quietly, "and, Yuto, neither are you."

Yuto can't help the hoarse almost-sob choking his throat. Not alone? Yuto sure feels like it. Nothing will ever be the same again. Even if Shun and Ruri and their parents should survive, and they _will,_ Yuto is always going to question himself now.

He'll always be torn between being afraid of himself (of _far_ he is willing to go) and of what his future might look like if something _does_ happen, and _wanting_ something to happen just so that he would no longer have to deal with the uncertainty.

(Something will happen. There's a cry inside him he never recognized as anything other than white noise before. It wants to tell him something. Goosebumps rise and every cell shouts in denial, making him want to clamp his hands over ears. Don't listen, don't listen, don'tlisten _don'tlistendon'tdon'tdon't-_ )

Judai said power and knowledge come with pain. He believes that, how can he not, grasping what Judai's life must be like.

But how much more painful can life get than what Yuto feels _now_?

"I'm serious," Judai all but whispers. But his voice carries, so Yuto can understand every word. "Do you think Ruri will care? Shun? _Me?_ Toru would probably get a kick out of laws of physics getting broken if you suddenly materialize Dark Rebellion to take a flight. Or something."

"...then why haven't you told him?" Yuto returns, turning his head a bit so that he can glimpse Judai's form from the corner of his eyes. Behind Judai, the door to the guest room is closed, allowing them this conversation without risk of being overheard. Yuto's hand fists on the stair's banister. "You could speak with his deck and help him out with it."

Blinding anger consumes him for an instant. How _dare_ Judai speak as though everything would be fine when he himself doesn't even trust his almost-brothers? Judai _doesn't_ because he knows nothing good can come out of being _different_ in such a fundamental way. Yuto never wanted to be anything special. It would tear his life apart. Already does. Judai said it himself. It brings pain. How would Judai know if not from experience. Maybe that's what happened - why Judai ran away from home, ending up in Heartland. Maybe that's -

"I have enemies." Judai meets Yuto's eyes steadily, expression somber and only just a bit hard. Almost unreadable if not for Yuto having met that _dead-serious_ face of Judai's today for the first time and gotten to know it _well_. "They don't matter right now. I have time to grow up, grow stronger and get to know myself. I have Yubel to protect me until then. But if I draw too much attention I give up anonymity." Judai's fists clench at his side and he stares of Yuto's shoulder. "It's not that I don't trust Toru, but sometimes there are enemies you don't see. And not everyone is as nice as people in Heartland." Lips pulling up sadly, a bit wistfully, he asks, "knowing what being friends with me entails, do you still care?"

Yuto turns to fully face Judai, stung and defiant.

Everything in him rebels at the thought of, of – of...

Judai is his friend, no matter how angry Yuto is at him or how he broke the belief Yuto had about his life into pieces. Imagining Judai, _alone_ , against some faceless enemies?

They'd have to go through Yuto first.

"Then why do you think anyone would abandon you?" Judai questions softly, tiredly reading the thought on Yuto's face. Or maybe he can mind-read, Yuto wouldn't put it past him. "You are you, and you are my friend Yuto. Nothing else matters."

* * *

That night, Yuto goes to sleep with Dark Rebellion Dragon in his hands. A light burns because Yuto can't face the dark right now and it allows him to look at the dragon. His ace card. His most treasured possession.

(It's easier, as he needs it to be, to think about this rather than what might be happening somewhere else in this city, in the hospital, _right now_.)

Where did Dark Rebellion come from?

Yuto doesn't remember.

When did he decide to build his deck around it?

All he recalls is that it's _always_ been like that.

Rolling over, stomach churning, he goes through his life and tries to look for other holes.

Maybe he finds some, maybe he doesn't. He only lives in his own head so he doesn't have a basis for comparison. How much detail do other people remember from their lives? Of decisions they made?

But all that doesn't matter as much as the fact that Dark Rebellion is connected to him.

Suddenly he is fiercely, desperately grateful for the dragon. With Dark Rebellion being tied to his fate, no matter what happens, he is never going to fight alone.

 _His_ Dark Rebellion Dragon.

* * *

TBC

 _What with Academia giving him a bad feeling Judai sets up some cornerstones; like Yubel getting a deck, like having a chat with Yuto about Dark Rebellion and about the tiny little fact that something is odd with the both of them that goes above even Judai's head. Yuto is, predictably kicked of balance by this. He suddenly finds out that the world he sees is only, like, 50% at most of what is actually around and he gets it_ proven _. And then he gets told_ oh by the way, if things turn out bad you're probably one of maybe a handful of people who has a say in those not-visible 50%but no pressure the balance of the world might only be at stake. _Suspension of disbelief and well-it-doesn't-really-matter-yet kick in, only to come home to one world shaking phone call. Yeah, Yuto doesn't have it easy._

 _At this point I think it would also be good to mention what I want to make of 'magic' in this fic.  
As of 5Ds, the Yugioh series have continuously tried to apply science to the various supernatural occurrences. Science doesn't cut it, obviously. Didn't even manage to cut it for a supposedly completely scientific accident in 5Ds, the Zero Reverse. But what science does manage to do is built a foothold, a foundation that supports/makes said supernatural occurrences. Like how in 5Ds the Momentum supports the power of Synchro, like how in Zexal Kaito was able to use science to reach the space inside the Emperor's Key, like how in Arc-V science was used to create the En Cards that ended up being powerful enough to split the world. That is the same theme I want to follow in the fic. Science will be given some respect and attention, but at some point science bleeds over into the manipulation of energy and spirit through the mind alone, which is basically magic. (Judai, of course, sees science as a little curiosity that exists to prevent exhaustion at the most.)  
This needs to be done to give some coherency to the important plot points where some people just tend have the habit to just draw cards, in the middle of the duel, that _were not actually in the deck at the beginning of the duel _. Or for cards to just change their card texts, also in the middle of a duel. Now, I might not be a professional duelist, but even I know that adding cards once a game has started is, technically, against the rules. To explain how that is possible it becomes important to add another set of rules to Duel Monsters. One that the human society sets (and is free to change with the times) and one that holds to magic-fate-of-the-world duels, where more power/energy is involved than reason and that is always valid.  
I base that theory on the illustrating example we have in the DM series: in Ancient Egypt, where the game came from in that world, they didn't play with the same rules they had three thousand years later; things like tributing, a deck of cards, five cards in hand, only vaguely defined Turns, etc. But crucial points were the same. Namely: a) if a monster you summon gets destroyed, you take the damage, b) If you take too much damage, your Life runs out c) the attack power of monsters (not the gods, though, which leads to the interesting tangent that some monsters have abilities that have not been/could not be translated into their card texts, but that is neither here nor there)._

 _Before you ask, Yuto and Judai's conversation wasn't one he would want even a passing Duel Spirit to overhear, so he put up wards. That means no, Orbital didn't get a recording of that discussion._


	15. II-I: swamp of reflection

Part II-I

* * *

swamp of reflection

* * *

Rocks and stones, and hard and crystalline ground stretching as far as the eye can see. It's reflection of a cloud-free, six sun-ed sky is blinding and sears his eyes. There is nowhere to avert his eyes to, the landscape stretching to the horizon and melting into the sky.

Sharp edges cut into his bare feet. The sensation is there but distant.

That's how he knows its a dream.

His legs carry him on and on and _on_ forever until he feels that surely the wet slap of bloody flesh echoing eerily against the stretching nothingness must have become bloody bones doing the same.

Yet he walks on and on and on without direction.

On and on and _on._

Eventually, after felt years have past, Yuto's eyes manage to tell a mountain apart from the monotonous, blinding land. It's as crystalline as the ground beneath his feet, but the way light fractures off its slopes gives it away. From ground to sky, it's massive form seems to be the only thing preventing the heaven from crashing down.

Yuto's feet keep walking, and he hazily notices the purpose that has carried him so far as he gets every closer to the mountain. That place is his goal. What he will find there doesn't matter. But he must reach it. Yes, that is his reason. That's why he's here, and why he doesn't even care he leaves bloody footprints behind, like a gruesome twist on a snowy winter day.

He walks on and on and on. The mountain grows.

When finally the ground starts to slope under him, Yuto's hands brush the strand of pale hair that always falls between his eyes away as he tips his neck up. There is no end in sight. No snow covered top, no clouds gathering at the tip. The mountain in there, reflecting almost like a mirror, but clear, like ice. The air is hot. His skin burns from the suns from overheard and their reflected heat from underneath, his tongue is parched. Strange that his dream remembers to add details like that.

The ground is still easy to walk on, but as he continues it keeps getting steeper. It's impossible to reach the top. Yet he knows he _must_. He won't stop before he does.

Eventually he is forced to climb, searching out handholds with his fingers and cutting his nails and palms on jagged edges. His grip becomes slippery and his hears thunders in his chest. Faintly, he feels relief that this is a dream.

On and on a he climbs. One sun after another dips under the horizon, bleeding the world in shades of orange, red, purple and orange again as new suns rise to replace the lost ones. There is no night.

For some reason, this strikes Yuto as _horrible_.

He _must_ reach the top. Even if his flesh should fall from his bones and his soul forget his name.

He climbs and climbs, and it gets easier. At some point, every meter he gets away from the ground makes his body lighter. In the end, he almost floats to the top, only using the mountain to not get lost in this bright, burning space. And it is space as he knows it. No air to breath, no gravity. But he's dreaming so he doesn't need the first and the lack of the last only helps him. The color is disconcerting, though, awing him with its strangeness. Dark tendrils, thin like hair, ripple through space, but otherwise everything is an intense yellow-orange.

Everything but that one thing.

Yuto dreams, and it's like someone cut out a part of a picture. His dream doesn't show him what he is looking upon. Only the impression of red eyes and a size so massive it dwarfs this space-reaching mountain gathers in his head.

For some reason, he doesn't find this odd at all.

All of a sudden a great wind blows, tearing on his clothes and forcing him to shield his eyes. The lack of gravity almost becomes a problem, but as it's a dream it doesn't.

Then he feels it. Powerful, intelligent; a focus on him that sets every cell on fire. It's the most intense sensation he's ever felt in a dream, making it not much like a dream at all anymore.

But Yuto doesn't feel unease or fear or even surprise at this thing that he can't see. He doesn't feel much of anything at all, tipping his head at the _missingmissingIknowwhatthereis_ in a familiar motion. Wanting to meet Dark Rebellion Dragon's eyes.

Not Dark Rebellion, but might as well be.

A dragon, Yuto is sure.

 _Where is the rest of you?_

His teeth rattle and his bones shake from an immense, soundless voice that fails to surprise him in any way.

The distortion where the dragon is gives the impression of observation, as though waiting for Yuto to supply it with an answer.

 _...what rest?_

The blur moves, Yuto is sure, shifting and in his mind he sees Dark Rebellion curled in a ball like a cat, at first studying him only with one glowing red eye before suddenly turning to look at him with both. Even in his mind, it's not Dark Rebellion that looks at him from those familiar eyes. The red is the same as what eyes this god of dragons that he stands in front of has.

The dragon(s) huff. Age old and awe-inspiring, the mere breath powerful enough to level a kingdom. It parts around Yuto like a tide.

 _Why have you come here then?_

Yuto wants to look around to have a clearer idea of what 'here' means and finds to his surprise that his dream-self follows the simple impulse. Asking where 'here _'_ is is on the tip of his tongue but he is not here to ask irrelevant questions of ***.

 _I came to apologize_ , leaves him instead.

What?

He feels intense regard studying him leisurely, piercing him to the soul. Slowly, the dragon uncoils. The ground under Yuto's feet shakes with every scrape of massive scales over it. Scales that must be black. Black, tinted by orange. Like dusk immortalized a thousand, million fold in as many different ways. Claws pitch black. Just black.

Wings spread. The sight-clouding distortion moves with it, not allowing Yuto to confirm what he feel, but the wings throw shadows on the world below.

He can't imagine a creature so immense the very unfolding of its wings would bring the night to a whole planet.

Two red eyes, so large skyscrapers would fit in their pupils stare down at him. He feels it so intensely, even if he could see, it would not be any clearer.

Yuto's dream-self isn't afraid. He's awed, again and _again_ by the majesty of this dragon that he can't even see. But his alternate-self is also apprehensive. He is guilty (of what?), and he deserves everything that's coming for him. But even as he is sorry, he _isn't finished yet._

 _We are One, once and thus forever you earned that right,_ vibrates in every cell. To the very depth of his _soul._ _Yet despite having all our power, why do you choose suffering? Hatred? Had you not sought us, that very first time, for it to end?_

Yuto opens his mouth to reply – what, he doesn't know – but it's a truth that binds him with unbreakable chains -

\- and he sits up in bed, grasping for breath, sweat coating his skin and heart thundering in his ears.

A classical opera carries through his room, originating from his bedside table. For a moment Yuto stares at it in incomprehension, disoriented, then caller ID sinks in and he lungs for his D-pad.

(As he slots Dark Rebellion back into his deck he doesn't notice the second card behind it. Unknowingly, he adds the End to his deck.)

* * *

TBC


	16. II-I: times might be rough, just smile

Part II-I

* * *

times might be rough, just smile

* * *

The hospital smells sterile. Yuto wouldn't be surprised if even the air had some disinfecting effect. He'd welcome it right now frankly, no matter how much it irritates his nose and how many memories of loneliness he associates with it.

In the bathroom's mirror, a boy gazes back at him who looks like a stranger. Tired, worn down, alien expression in his eyes. But the face doesn't bat an eye as he holds his hands under the running water. It dyes promptly pink, the color especially clear against the white sink.

The cuts sting. What managed to scrape over broke when he had to remove the gloves he had used, impulsively, hurriedly to hide the impossible wounds.

In his haste to get to the hospital it was easy to ignore, but every movement reminds him, and being the son of doctors he knows not to let open wounds go untreated like this for long.

That is why he finds himself clearing his hands in the bath of Shun and Ruri's room. He's glad he thought to at least stuff a couple of bandages into his pocket when first noticed.

His gloves are dark, thankfully, and blood doesn't show so he opts to just let it dry for now and worry about hygiene later when he is in the security of his own home. And has had time to _think_.

He binds his hands in bandages as well as he can, the broken fingernails especially painful as he winds the material around them, but Yuto can't really say he has the nerves to care about pain at the moment.

His feet choose that time to remind him that he's been standing on them for too long.

He got wounds from a _dream_. Not even half as bad as he thought they were in-sleep, but the fact that they're there at all-

Yuto indeterminately doesn't think about it, instead taking off his shoes and his socks, grimacing at how wet they are. Constant motion must have agitated the cuts. Yuto bandages them as well, a lot thinner than his hands unfortunately as the bandages run out, but well enough. Pulling the socks and shoes back on, he hurries to clean up after him, wiping all smeared blood.

It's not that bad, he tells himself. The cuts aren't even deep. A single one doesn't even bleed that much. By tomorrow they'll be perfectly scraped over and he'll have to worry only about hiding that. Or finding an excuse.

Gloves on his hands, he steps out of the bathroom and joins Judai, Toru and Riku at the sickbeds again.

Ruri has a thick white band around her head and a neckband. Both her hands, resting over the blanket are also wrapped in white, not unlike what Yuto did to his own, but unlike his, hers go all the way up the arm, disappearing under the hospital robe. An IV dip connects to her right, the bags hanging from a stand attached to her bed. Winter-sun hits her face, making her almost look as though she's sleeping under a tree. For a moment Yuto even thinks he can smell earth and wind, but of course he can't.

On the other bed, Shun's head is completely bound, eyes, nose, cheeks and all. His left hand and leg have one cast each. That will take him out of dueling for months and Yuto knows how easily irritated Shun can get. He'll be tearing the heads off the nurses by the time the first week is up. When he wakes up. And he will. His parents told him that Shun and Ruri both regained consciousness once already.

On the nightstand in between their beds are two decks and Ruri's bracelet. Yuto steps around Judai and picks it up. The silver is without a scratch, glinting. Light catches the inlaid opal, almost seeming to glow.

Yuto's hands tighten, a wave of powerful, consuming hatred washing over him. He wants to break it. Annihilate it. Disintegrate every atom.

The wave of emotion may only last for an instant, leaves Yuto reeling with their intensity.

But is it a wonder?

This _thing_ didn't even get a dent when Mr. and Mrs. Kurosaki are dead. Shun and Ruri _only just_ fine. And this thing, this worthless, horrible, damnable, cursed _thing-_

A sleepy mumble grounds Yuto back in his own mind and he lets the jewelry drop back on the nightstand without a second thought.

"Ruri?" Asks Toru, too loud for a hospital but for him still uncharacteristically quiet and scared. Riku, having sat on the chair between the wall and Shun's bed comes to join them in standing around Ruri. Judai, on the chair between both beds, leans eagerly forward.

Ruri stirs, russet eyes opening a slit. Light catches in them too, just like the gem, but Yuto's emotions swing in the opposite direction. Her eyes drift around, glazed and not catching on anything. She doesn't respond to any of them and doesn't seem to hear any calls of her name.

Yuto's stomach churns, cold, even as he knows that of course she doesn't. She isn't supposed to wake up yet at all. Letting trauma patients come to with anyone at all present other than the closest family can cause negative reactions.

Neither Shun or Ruri are supposed to come up from their artificial coma until this afternoon.

Of course her eyes close again and she's gone, again, without any response.

Of course.

Yuto swallows thickly, averting his gaze.

Just for a moment he saw her wake up and ask, _where are my parents_?

"I think it's best we leave," he speaks into the disappointed atmosphere, and the three orphans (of five in this room now) look at him in startled surprise.

"Leave?" Repeats Toru. "But Ruri hasn't woken up yet! We've got to – to be there! When -" _when she finds out about her parents_.

Yuto shifts from one foot to another, using the spike of pain to as an anchor. "Maybe...but we won't. We shouldn't even know about that. We aren't family." The only reason they do is because Yuto does. And Yuto does because his parents broke regulation to tell him. It hasn't sunk in yet. He ate more homemade meals made by Mrs. Kurosaki than by his own mother.

Toru wilts and Riku just merely nods his assent. For a brief moment, Yuto is surprised it's that easy, but then he remembers: they are orphans. They went through something like this from Ruri and Shun's current position -

"What?" Judai demands, shocked. "Why? We're their friends. We should be there for them. They might need us."

Yuto presses his lips together and carefully keeps his face blank. "Patient-doctor confidentiality. They have got to tell us themselves." Or their new guardians. Which might end up being the orphanage's Martha-san.

Yuto feels _sick._

Judai's mouth opens, then clamps shut. His gaze falls first to Ruri, then he turns and stares for an equally silent moment at Shun. Yuto shrugs on his jacket and the only reason he catches it is because his hands and feet remind him that he needs to have a talk with Judai.

He sees it when two cards materialize in Judai's hands while Riku and Toru's backs are turned and he puts them down next to Shun and Ruri's decks.

The decks.

How come they are fine? Ink and paper burns.

He shakes the thought off. Their D-Pads must have kept them safe and his parents must have put them there.

Judai turns and freezes as he catches Yuto staring. But he only blinks twice, surprised, before moving to put on his own winter jacket without a care.

* * *

Skipping two days in a row Judai hasn't done since coming to this world, but instead of school with Riku and Toru, he finds himself back at the Sato home, examining Yuto's hands as they sit on a thick carpet in Yuto's room.

 _Yubel?_

 _What do you think?_ She returns, using every opportunity to have Judai learn to make his own judgment. Her tone is suspiciously neutral though, adding to a feeling in Judai that he can't yet name.

In reply Judai turns up the sleeves of his warm pullover.

"Is that...?" Yuto's eyes widen, darting from one red dot to another on his lower and upper arm.

Reflexively, Yuto glances down at his own hands. The scraps that had bled freely in the hospital. Now they look at least a week old.

"The same, yeah," Judai shrugs. "I got these tonight when I visited the Raid Raptors. I was a stranger in their territory, so of course they attacked me before I managed to explain why I came – that's one of the cards I left, by the way." Not to mention the entire decks, which the monsters reconstructed themselves after finding out how and why their gates – cards- had been destroyed. The destruction of the cards had been the main reason for their shoot first, ask later attitude too, one which Yubel made them regret. Afterwards Judai just offered himself up as a channel, they knew where to go and formed their own cards. "Don't worry, though. Wounds you get from sleepwalking into the Spirit World disappear quickly. They weren't made by something of matter of this world, so they can't hold themselves. You said you got them from walking?" He adds, seemingly changing tracks.

It's Yuto's turn to shrug. Discomforted, he keeps his gaze on his palms, flexing them. "I think so. It was...like a world of nothing but broken glass. A mountain of shards was piled so high it reached space. There was – something on top of it, and it was _important_ , but I can't remember what. I think...?"

"Huh," says Judai blankly. _Do you know a world like that?_

Yubel thinks. He senses her focus on Yuto, studying him for anything unusual. As if she hasn't done that a dozen times without results already. . _..no. But that doesn't mean much. Only twelve universes, but infinite realms inside them. I may have knowledge of many by mortal standards, but I have been to few. What this boy describes could also be everywhere or nowhere. Past, future, an illusion._

 _But it isn't normal, is it? To get hurt from something like_ walking _. I thought only people are able to harm something that gets dragged back into a physical body?_ Judai asks, already knowing the answer in his gut. Which Yubel senses. And which pleases her. But she humors him with a reply.

 _It's not. It's intent – malice, blessings, thoughts, emotion and the like – that leave imprints, regardless of what kind of creature, and thus what kind of individual, what kind of person. Land doesn't qualify._ She admits.

Unless of course the land itself was sentient, but then they'd be by intent again, thus by sentience, thus by a person, sooooo –

Judai can't tell Yuto that for all that Judai _should_ know, when it comes to Yuto, he _doesn't_ , and how very, very telling that is. Yuto'd been hit hard enough by too much in a matter of, what, thirty six hours?

Judai maaaaaay have picked the absolute worst timing to break the fact about bigger-picture-trouble-in-life to him. But how was he supposed to know that _won't come to school_ was to be translated into _accident and in hospital_.

On the other hand he owes it to Yuto to be frank with him, so he decides to for once actually speak things he usually lets just...fade away. "It's more exciting than to just dream, so I walk the Spirit World pretty often. I don't get hurt usually, but that's cause Yubel is overprotective. There was this giant spider once..." he trails off at the look on Yuto's face. "Anyway. Don't worry about it," he says firmly. "If you want we can do something so that you won't dream-walk." in other words Judai would go to sleep, go to the Spirit World, find some monster good with dreams and stuff, convince them to help and then summon them; only a matter of hours, since time flows differently in every dimension. "That would probably come at the price of understanding your deck better, though." He smiles. "Generally I say landing in the Spirit World in dreams is a good thing for your abilities as a duelist. Also: do you have any idea how _soft_ the beach of Neo Space is?" He wonders dreamily.

Yuto gives him a Look.

Judai bites down a grin. Distraction: Success.

Apparently he didn't hide it well enough, though, because Yuto glowers before his expression falls flat. Emotional expressions all used up. He makes to stand up. "I never woke up with injuries I got in a _dream_ before. Why now? I don't-" _want to be special._

'Why now' is a very, very good question. Is it the sudden stress in his life, or is it because Judai accidentally caused subconscious doors to be opened? Judai really, really hopes it's the former. Prays even. If not, then Judai - "This was probably just a hiccup." Hopefully. "A way of your subconsciousness to escape. If something like this happens more often, then it's a pattern, and then we'll need to start worrying about the world exploding under our feet or something. But until then-"

"-it doesn't matter," determines Yuto, standing stiffly. He hesitates. "I've...got a key to their house. Ruri and Shun will need a change of clothes."

Judai jumps up. "I'll come."

At the moment, where Yuto is so busy burying all emotional response, Judai can't read if he's welcome. Yuto might be glad not having to do this alone. Or he might have wanted to.

Tough luck. If he tired to be subtle, he should know Judai doesn't do that.

(Besides, Shun and Ruri are his friends too. His dear friends.)

(Fortunately, Judai is quite good at living in the here and now. Or he'd be in a _very bad mood_ indeed.)

* * *

Ruri and Shun recover. The hospital works restlessly until the siblings do not have an ache left in their limbs – faultless, not even a scar to show, except for Kurosaki Shun's eyes; formerly a light green now matchs the sulfur of his Raid Raptors.

The dream city of Heartland and it's many institutions care for their needs, seeing that the least stressful options for their future would be taken. Kurosaki Shun, fourteen of years, applies for emancipation and has it granted under stipulations after a series of tests and qualifications.

Heartland cares for the will of its residents.

Drs. Sato, long-time family friends, take over guardianship of Kurosaki Ruri and mentor-ship of Kurosaki Shun.

They may have lost their family, but they are not alone. The Mayor himself promised so early on. Shun's sponsorship gets its timelimit erased so long as he keeps to his standards and discusses once a month the many, many burdens that come with adult life (paperwork, but not limited to) with a councilor.

Ruri grieves and weeps, visiting the graves daily. Then, eventually, every other day. A year later, she would bring flowers weekly. She is a strong girl, her gaze on the future while carrying the past in her heart.

(All the while, a sensor in an undreground lab keeps recording blips. All over the world, people without a past mingle, the only thing connecting them a D-pad with as of yet unknown technology. In Heartland, a red haired boy fits in with the people on the street, appearing at festivals, malls, carnivals – anywhere where people gather.)

* * *

All disturbances are noted – the increasing number of them, the location, the time – and investigated. It is not difficult to have the security systems add a red flag to their profiles and to have all relevant information about the arrivals gathered. None of the people make a bib on the radar of the communities, don't even commit a crime as simple as shop lifting.

They do not stand out. The only one who does is the very first, the boy who cooperates willingly and openly. The others have seemingly no motive behind their actions whatsoever, don't seem to have even so much as a proper reason for their arrival. They are however observant, take note, fit in almost seamlessly.

Nothing is attention grabbing. Until one day in early spring, one brand new arrival _does_ stand out.

* * *

TBC


	17. Interlude: all involved, all intertwined

Part II-I

Interlude

* * *

all involved, all intertwined

* * *

Akaba Reiji has his hands folded, his head resting against them as he tries to think. The desk he sits behind, so big, so empty and all _his_ is a distraction as much as it is a reminder.

This is where his father sat. This may be where he came up with that... _diabolical_ plan of not only traveling between dimension but of _sparking war_ between them to - _somehow_ – unite them.

His father, no Akaba Leo, must have sat behind this desk for years, keeping the company stable and growing while his sanity unraveled without anyone noticing.

Unfortunately, his father, while mad, is still brilliant.

Now, sitting behind the same desk, it is up to Reiji to find a way to stop him. A plan, already years in the working and stretching over _four worlds_ , and _Reiji_ has to find a way. He doesn't even have a way to _contact_ other dimensions, never mind travel to them.

His first card, and perhaps his ace, the one he set his hopes to without even noticing (despite knowing _better_ ) is gone. Played without effect. Removed from the game (dead) maybe. Perhaps shuffled back into his deck (lost). Possibly taken control of.

A knock sounds at the door.

"Enter."

Nakajima enters. He's been Reiji's bodyguard for more than five years. At this point, there is no one he trusts more, not even his own mother. Reji can't afford to let that matter, though. Trust is no longer something he can give. It must be earned, and then only be given with conditions.

Contracts within contracts, loopholes always there to be exploited. Reiji would know.

Nakajima has proven himself, though. He is loyal to Reiji first, even if it is his failure as a professional. On the other hand any human being who does not care about a child they spend more than ten hours a day with over the span of half a decade ought to be locked up.

A decision must be made here, and Reji must make many, many more of them. It's impossible to do so on an informed background if he's alone.

He's not even fourteen yet.

"From the IT department, Sir." Nakajima hands him a pad where in bullet points the most important facts are listed.

"Scraped together from data fragments?"

"As I understand it, Sir. The department went through the software with a fine-toothed comb, as I understand it, and discovered that certain traces of deleted data show surprising compatibility. It seems, Sir, your father -"

"Akaba Leo," Reiji corrects.

Nakajima looks his version of startled for a brief moment, before continuing as though reading from a script. "- Akaba Leo kept an extensive amount of copies of a certain file, allowing us to reconstruct it."

Reiji glances over the report. "A copy was on every main computer of the company?" He wants to clarify, his tone neutral. His fath- Akaba Leo may be mad, he is unfortunately also brilliant. For him to have so many copies...it must be something of quite big importance. "And someone has only noticed this _now_?"

"Yes, Sir."

Wonderful. A thorough scrubbing of all employees seems be in order.

Biting his tongue to keep from showing an expression, Reiji connects the transportable pad to a terminal on his desk and has the file load. While he waits, he hands Nakajima a pad of his own. "Take this to my mother and tell her I want her opinion on the reworked course work and on potential instructors."

"Understood, Sir." Nakajima takes two respectful steps back before turning. But before he leave the room, he says, "please expect a disturbance around noon. I have taken the liberty of ordering the kitchen to bring you lunch."

Finger floating over the file, Reiji pauses without looking up. "Understood."

The door clicks shut. Reiji opens the file.

"...Revival Zero?"

* * *

Yuri is bored.

On the one hand it's good that Dennis and his ilk have finally gone to find him his targets. On the other hand, the member of the Reconnaissance Elite Subdivision turned out to be surprisingly lasting entertainment.

Yuri is _bored._

Deciding that he's had enough of listening in on a lesson that is a long way from enlightening and only mandatory for those imbeciles that struggle with the very basics (which is everyone), Yuri rises. The teacher falls silent and so does every murmur in the class. None of them dare say a word as he yawns and leaves the lecture hall. A shame. He could have taught the material by example and gotten some entertainment while he's at it.

The Professor forbid him from staring duels unprovoked, though, so Yuri refrains. If he makes the Professor upset with him the man might decide to take him from the offensive and Yuri can't have that.

Speaking off, how long does it take to locate a girl or two. It's already been _weeks_ since Dennis left.

Yuri keeps half an eye out for stragglers, all too willing to take punishment for skipping into his own hands. But at this time of the day, the corridors are unfortunately empty -

He blinks in surprise. There's a boy coming down the stairs. He isn't wearing a uniform and there's an adult – black suit, some training, advanced age: bodyguard and or attendant- two steps behind. As well as a teacher.

Yuri's lips peel back from his lips and his arms drop from behind his head. Stopping in the middle of their way (man doesn't move defensively, so attendant not bodyguard), Yuri takes a closer look at the boy, who does the same in return.

Around the same age as him. Light brown hair, almost blond. Eyes also a light shade. They might be blue or brown, he can't quite tell. Skin without even a hint of tan. High quality clothes.

Yuri feels his anticipation ebb. A rich son of one of the Professor's sponsors or something. Hardly worth his time.

He turns to go, but then, to his shock, the other boy _smile_ s.

Yuri resists the urge to check behind him to look for who that smile is meant for.

"Hello," he says, approaching him. "Are you a student here?"

Yuri eyes him.

The only one who ever kept a smile in Yuri's presence is Dennis and that's because the guy had enough intelligence to not show his fear to a predator. Which is more than can be said for the rest of Duel Academia combined. Maybe this boy is retarded?

"What if I am?" He blinks as guilelessly as he can, curious to see where this will go. It's not like he's anything better to do. "Who are you?"

"I'm Johan." Without any fear, the boy stays in his presence. His smile is a bit embarrassed as he scratches a cheek with a finger. "My brother used to go here, so I'm a bit curious about the school. He never told me much. Would it be too much of a bother if I could ask you some questions?"

A brother that graduated? Maybe genetics ensure there is something worth in this spoiled son, but that doesn't explain the lack of running. Or screaming. Yuri doesn't usually even have to do anything to have corridors empty for him.

How interesting.

"Maaaybe," he singsongs. A glance at the attendant reveals an expression made from marble. A well trained dog. Yuri wonders how far he would have to push to get that mask to crack. Well. Maybe later. The teacher meanwhile pales. "What's in it for me?"

The visitor – Johan? - blinks, taken aback. Then he looks helplessly around as though the answer would be found in an abandoned corridor or on faceless walls. "Um." His gaze returns to Yuri, no longer smiling but also still decidedly lacking the fear Yuri is so familiar with. That leaves him on unfamiliar ground.

How very amusing.

"What would you like?" The other boy asks, meeting Yuri's gaze earnestly. "I'm sure I can arrange for something."

Yuri opens his mouth, but his mind is blank. That was clearly a monetary offer. What would he like? Strawberry crème parfaits the Professor already buys for him. Same for a garden to play with. There are no insanely rare cards he needs. Or wants. Entertainment? Not even the spoiled son of a sponsor would be able to hurry the Plan forward.

So.

Yuri draws a blank.

Except, maybe…

This Johan _does_ carry a deck holster… "Duel me," he demands. Immediately he adds, thoughtfully, "and last at least three turns."

Surprised, one hand falling to the deck at his hip, the way this interloper looks at Yuri suddenly changes.

There's _still_ no fear.

(It vexes Yuri as much as slowly starts to excite him. That look tells him it's _not_ a stupid lack of survival instincts that kept this... _anomaly_ from heading the other way the moment his eyes fell on Yuri.)

Instead a slow smile grows on the other boy's face and it's a lot less practiced and a lot more sincere. Yuri can tell because his own smiles he practiced in the mirror until the Professor was satisfied with the result. "I'd love to. I have to warn you, though. I never went to a Duel School in my life."

Yuri smirks in a way that terrifies people out of rational thought. Johan doesn't even seem to notice. "Your goal is to entertain me, not to win. I'm not that unreasonable." Given that they are in the central building on the second floor the next combat arena is… "Don't get lost."

For a moment it seems as though the teacher wants to protest, but then seems to think better of it, biting her lip and an unreadable gaze resting on Yuri's playmate. (Not Yuri himself, not afraid of what he might do to this important sponsor-son, but on this strange boy as though she trusts whatever thoughts go through the boy's head. Which is nonsense, because she is a teacher and the boy not a student. How could there be trust? Especially when _Yuri_ is a factor?)

"I'm sorry, I haven't caught your name yet." Scratching the back of his head sheepishly, Johan _falls into step beside him_.

Yuri catches himself before he can do something as demeaning as _gape_. _No one_ has _ever_ treated him this casually.

(Except, that once, years ago. That girl whose face he can't remember, who punched him in the shoulder. And shouted at him. And who makes something in his chest – he can't remember.)

"Yuri."

No reaction. Not even to his name. Johan _smiles._ Without any hidden malice. Yuri does not understand this person. "It's nice to meet you. Let's hope we can have a good duel." There is a glimmer in his eyes as he adds, "I don't plan to lose."

"Naturally." Yuri hits an elevator button and the cabin slides open then closed behind them (and their escort) to drop them off five stories higher. "You would not be much of a challenge if you didn't even try."

Johan laughs a bit. "That's true. But you're pretty confident."

It's also the first time Yuri has been questioned. Ever. Okay, maybe not ever. But in recent memory. Years. He finds he doesn't like it. If this were one of Academia's soldiers, he'd have them as a card by the end of their duel.

He'll see about making it as painful and entertaining as possible instead then. He thinks not getting feared may not be all that interesting after all.

(Yuri forgets all about his plan the promised three turns into the duel, endlessly fascinated by how Johan manipulates low leveled, not-Extra Deck monsters to...shocking effectiveness. There is not a fusion card in sight, Yuri even starts to doubt there are any in the other boy's deck, but he's good (amateurish, inexperienced, but clearly gifted) despite it. Yuri is delighted and takes thorough pleasure in crushing all angles the Crystal Beasts come at him from just to see what else Johan will come up with. What entertaining monsters! So weak at first and second glance, useless for most commonplace tactics, but so unexpected in all the best ways. What a strange style!)

(He's a bit sour when in the end Johan still doesn't fear or shy away from him, but a deal is a deal Yuri supposes. Might as well honor that for once.)

* * *

TBC

 _Reiji is not fourteen yet, but they're only at the beginning of spring in his part, so the chances are good his birthday hasn't come yet. (If there's an official date for his birthday, I don't know it, and I'm working on the assumption that he wasn't born in the first three months.) This is the year he turns fourteen, Yuya/YutoY/Yuri/Yugo, Ruri/Rin/Yuzu/Serena turn twelve. So does Judai. Shun turns fifteen. Toru and Riku are also slotted for twelve, whereas Makka turns nine._

 _Yuri meanwhile runs into Johan while the latter was at Duel Academia under false pretense. Officially he's there for the company's interest, but actually he cares more about finding out what made Judai run off. It's not his first visit of the kind.  
_


	18. II-I: it's showtime

Part II-I

* * *

it's showtime

* * *

"Where's Ruri?"

"Kidnapped."

A very, very narrowed stare (like a falcon considering a potential prey), is directed at them.

School bag swung over his back, twelve year old Yuto closes his eyes, pained, as if he could put more distance between himself and their mutual friend's stupidity.

Oblivious and willfully ignorant being the same to said brown haired boy just bounces along. "I'm not kidding. Sayaka-chan didn't leave her a choice."

Toru smiles. "When does she ever leave a choice? She just looks at you with those big blue eyes, and all you can say is yes..." he trails off, sighing dreamily, gaze lost. Judai and Riku trade speaking glances, and even Yuto has to admit they might be on to something with their teasing. Good thing for Toru that he picked Sayaka to have a crush on or Shun would have made his life horrible.

"Where did they go?" Since their parents' accident Shun has taken responsibility for Ruri onto himself and he's taking it seriously. It's a habit he doesn't seem to be breaking out of anytime soon.

Judai shrugs. "Probably to this dueling street artist. I saw Sayaka in the park talking with him last weekend."

Shun makes a noise of comprehension. "I heard he uses the new duel disk that is supposed to come out next month."

"Oh? Really?" Judai spins on his heels a few steps ahead to talk to them face to face easier. Once Yuto would have wondered how he avoided walking into street lamps or traffic lights like that.

"I wonder where he got it from," Yuto muses.

"Some lab, I'd say," drawls the oldest of them. "You know those that usually spit out new things. Like hand held microwaves or self-cleaning tableware."

"He probably got one early for advertising," opines Riku, pushing his glasses up to hide his dichromatic eyes behind their glare. The new watch he got for his birthday from Ruri glints on his wrist in the early summer sun. Toru is still lost in Sayaka-land.

"I want one of those too," Judai announces, as they approach the crossroads where they usually part ways – Shun and Yuto to Spade School, the orphan trio back home -

"If your monsters suddenly start speaking it's going to be one hell of a shock for every onlooker, you know. Even if that new duel disk makes monsters physical doesn't mean people expect them to suddenly become sentient."

"Except for those that already believe in their monsters being sentient," counters Judai promptly.

Shun huffs. "There's a difference between understanding your deck and them suddenly _starting to speak_."

Very much so, Yuto thinks.

Judai grins. "Yeah, but they won't start _speaking_ , you know. Spirits have many languages, and if you _understand_ them you don't need to know the language."

True. Yuto can... _sense_ his deck and its will.

It's not _speaking,_ not _words._ Feelings and impressions, yes, possibilities definitely. But not words.

"I wouldn't put it past _your_ deck to start speaking just to see everyone's expressions," retorts Shun.

"Or to abuse them to do your chores or something," adds Riku, rising a pointed eyebrow. "I don't think the duel disks were designed so that you can send your monsters shopping in your place."

Judai just grins, neither confirming nor denying the accusations, which most likely means the two hit the nail on the head. "But see, that makes it all the more important to take a look at that guy. We can see how this new visual system works! I bet he has lots of spirits. He sounds like the type. Hey, maybe we can duel him too!"

"No," says Shun shortly, though his deadpan expression had only barely held at the mention of _duel._

"We've got lessons at Spade now," Yuto inserts hurriedly before Judai can start to poke Shun into bristling. "But if you go now, you can probably find Ruri still there." Ruri, who is ditching her lessons in favor of this man. _Ruri_.

"Her and Sayaka and probably half the city!" Judai laughs, spinning down the street, the direction they came from. "Tell Martha-san I'll be late!" He calls to Riku and Toru before either can protest. He's already half gone by the time his shout of "I'll tell you what it's like" reaches them.

"Tell Ruri to come to Spade School!" Shun shouts after him.

Judai waves.

Shun pinches the bridge of his nose.

"...Martha-san is not going to be pleased. We were supposed to paint the playroom today while Makka is on her field trip." Riku stares expressionlessly in the direction Judai disappeared in. "That idiot."

* * *

The sound of the automated door sliding to the side cuts through the concentrated atmosphere.

"Sir, you might want to take a look at this."

"It had better be important," Edo warns, putting his work down as he gives the faceless subordinate an annoyed glance.

A pad is handed to him, the young man who delivered it obviously intimidated.

The screen is split between a recording, no doubt taken by one of their spies, and a profile. Edo pauses. Looks again, and replays the video. Checks the location it was taken from.

Well damn.

Edo swishes all the _other_ data he still needs to look over to the side before uploading the unexpected mess to his personal terminal. The larger screen allows for more details and as Edo's eyes skim over them, his expression is growing steadily stonier.

Sakaki Yusho.

They've no idea where he is from so far, but fact is that he brought the Real Solid Vision technology to XYZ's Heartland and very tellingly doesn't use XYZ. According to their spies, rumors of the local population indicate a new type of duel disk is already in development to accommodate the change in holograms.

Edo bites off a curse. "Find out where that man came from," he snaps that the poor sod stuck as one of his personal assistants. "I want to know where the duel disks are built – have it put down as a Priority One target. This one -" he taps the profile with a finger - " too. And tell our spies they had better hurry up locating our Primary Target or I'll have them strung out to dry." Pause. "What are you waiting for?! Now!"

The young man jumps. "Yessir!"

The graduated student – still hardly more than a boy, but older than Edo was – all but runs from the office. To his credit, Edo has the control to wait for the door to close before hitting the locking mechanism with a fist. "Damn. Damn it all."

Alone in the privacy of his office, Edo allows himself to bury his head in his hands. "Damn."

When he finally moves again, his head drags around so that his eyes fall on the ocean stretching out beyond the window. The lines on his face are deep and weary, light casts gray pallor of stone on the still form. Resignation is spelled out in the slouch of immaculately dressed shoulders, yet it changes nothing about the steel and stone strength in blue eyes.

Opening the inter-Academia communications system, he mentally formulates his report. There has to be some way this doesn't end in all out war. Even if the XYZ Dimension now has Real Solid Vision technology that doesn't mean that they have to be any more of a threat than before. Duels are duels. The innate power of the game makes it so that duels where enough energy it thrown around are physical and very, very _real_ regardless of the technology.

Given the backup plan with the Carding Program every summoned card is going to do damage anyway. _If_ it comes to fighting, which it shouldn't. (And Edo had very nearly backed out then, sick to his stomach, remembering Judai.) (But remembering Judai also reminded him why _he_ must do this – the Herald of Gentle Darkness is gone, dead for the stability of only _one_ dimension. In his wake there is no one left, even if they had the original card, capable of utilizing Super Polymerization to achieve what must be done.)

Now, if only he could convince the Commander-in-Chief of that. It might be easier if the man weren't the one who invented Real Solid Vision and was obsessed by the idea that _that,_ and _only_ that was what gave Duel Monsters life...

Scientists.

The call connects. "Professor, this is Edo. There has been a development..."

* * *

TBC

 _Edo is indeed also the one we know from GX, just like Asuka._

 _I'm not going to say much on him or his motivations now, because I've planned to address that later, but maybe a hint before you all come down on me with_ Edo-would-never _s: Edo becomes very narrow sighted once he has a goal. He is also definitely not the type to leave a powder keg alone and hope for the best. No, he'd ensure that the keg doesn't blow up, despite it_ really not _being his responsibility and being potentially unqualified for it. And if it turned out that dealing with that powder keg was a hundred times more difficult then he imagined, he's too stubborn to just quit._

 _He also obviously has no idea whatsoever that Judai is, in fact, once again alive. Why would he._


	19. II-I: ocean of despair

Part II-I

Rating: borderline M

* * *

ocean of despair

* * *

Outside the classroom, the sky is a crystal blue, not a cloud in sight. Wind teases lush green leaves into a soft dance.

Judai is stuck inside, wasting the wonderful day away listening to stuff he isn't going to remember anyway. He muffles a groan, burying his head in his arms. Even worse, with the start of the new school year classes have been rearranged, resulting in a profound lack of Judai's close friends within the same breathing space.

He shares a class with Riku, but Riku sits half a room away from him and is too busy paying attention anyway to alleviate Judai's boredom.

It's not the teacher's or the lessons' fault – it's just that Judai covered the whole social-political-economic stuff before he came here and has no desire to reacquaint himself with the material. Dimly, given the expected learning pace, he wonders if Johan is already done with schooling.

 _Lucky him_ , Judai would like to think, except that Johan would not get the time he doesn't need to study to play outside. Judai hopes Johan is doing well nonetheless. Ancient City – Rainbow Ruins is empty so at the very least he knows Johan isn't alone, however he managed that, but still.

(He _misses_ his brother. Fiercely, when he allows himself to think about him.)

Turning his head slightly, his eyes fall on the seat next to him. It's occupied by Sayaka-chan who has come into the habit of dragging Ruri along in the same way Ruri used to drag along Judai, only ten times more regularly. It feels a bit like being replaced but Judai isn't a girl – he gets there are some things girls need girls for.

Having seen that 'Entertainment Duelist' first hand at his craft, Judai can't exactly say he doesn't see where they come from either.

Making other people happy is Ruri's thing; using duels to make the audience, and children, _and_ the duelists happy is like hitting three birds with one stone. (Speaking of, Judai wonders if Ruri managed to extract herself from that advertising, red-haired apprentice of the man yet. Or if she even wants to. Girls.)

There's a special kind of charm in being able to interact with monsters with real solid touch and action – to work together with them, team up with them, not stand in the second row, to share the danger...

Judai will have a lot of fun once the duel disks are available to the general public. No matter how much Yubel disapproves and calls it reckless.

So yes, Judai thinks the so called action duels are awesome too. But he still kind of wants to be left out of the gushing about this Sakaki Yusho guy, thanks. About that he's on the same wavelength as Riku, Toru, Yuto, Shun...all guys he knows, basically.

 _Girls._

He can't wait to see more people pick that style up and put on a good show; or an exciting show. Or a thrilling one. It's all possible!

Still, as much as Judai admires the forming new style, he's aware enough of his own character to know that he doesn't really care to do entertaining himself. So long as he's got his fun the rest is secondary and a bit too theatrical for his tasts.

But watching is gonna become awesome! A win-win situation for him.

If he could get Mister Grouchy Yuto, Special Honors Student Riku or Serious Shun to take part in an entertainment duel, Judai is going to go belly up from laughing too hard.

…maybe he can enlist Ruri and Sayaka-chan in the endeavor…? Judai grins at the thought.

Sayaka-chan shoots him a nervous look as though sensing the direction his thoughts have taken. Judai winks, opens his mouth to ask -

 **BOOM!**

The noise rattles through the air, bats against the open windows, vibrates through the ground.

The classroom falls into stuttering, awkward, confused stillness that both seems to last forever and less than a split second. His classmates look out the window or at each other curiously.

Like drumming thunder, the sound of something incredibly heavy crashing reaches them. It sounds as though somewhere, kilometers away, a rock and stone avalanche smashed into a building.

There are no mountains near Heartland.

More rattling and shock-waves traveling through he earth follows. Judai finally lifts his head properly from his arm-pillow.

Later he will not be able to remember much. Except: The first explosion, the confusion. And then fire. Screams. How it started slowly, from the distance, like a trick of the ears. He will remember wondering if someone dialed a techno-rock music up too high.

He won't remember how the screams will get swallowed by explosions and crashes, how they will become a rising background noise as the class starts to get noisy again, people moving to the windows and the teacher furtively calling for order. He won't remember someone climbing into the school yard, turning and pointing over the back of the building at something they can't see from the classroom. He won't remember joining the others in the courtyard.

In contrast: Heavy fumes rolling into the sky, painting an appalling beautiful contrast between sun-lit world and darkness, he will be able to recall perfectly for the rest of his life. Dark smoke seemed to devour the heaven, wafting one-eyed giants' shapes, glowing red and orange from the fire. He will remember searing flames spike in the growing darkness. Will remember how over the course of the day the smoke will spread, dark and suffocating like a coffin.

Judai won't be able to recollect how he or hundreds of other students gathered in the schoolyard, staring. Muttering with growing nervousness.

Like a poisonous parasite, he will remember forever the fleeting thought of looking for his friends.

He will remember a helpless apprehension growing in him, that though it will not be overwhelming at that time, will stick to his bones, flow in his blood, be his unforgiving companion from thereon.

His and everyone else'.

And that was before hell had even _begun._

(He will remember turning when the sun was suddenly blocked out by a shadow looming over them, and he will remember seeing the end of the world stare down with a single, gleaming orb.)

* * *

"Everyone – Everyone please stay calm!"

Dimly, Judai hears sensei's voice, and the barely contained panic in it.

The others around him are uncertain and shocked. It hasn't been five minutes yet since the first explosion and no one knows what's going on yet. People have their D-gazers's pressed to their ears and some look close to tears when no one picks up.

With only a few notable exceptions all over Heartland, nothing _reacts_.

Judai elbows through classmates and acquaintances who are in that moment faceless and obstacles. His chest is tight with an unnamed emotion that closes his throat. In that moment Judai thinks it desperation. By the time night has fallen it will be mild anxiety by comparison. He must find his friends. Now. They need to -

From the corner of his eyes, he catches a dark head and he heads towards it, shouting Yuto's name without being heard in the rising panic.

The next moment is the end.

Out of nothing a giant rises. Not with the others of its kind, not in the distance or blocks away, but so close that its shadow blocks out the sun. As in _right there_. It's red eye _sees_ them – glancing over and then _stopping_ when it brushes over the courtyard. The orb lights up.

Someone might have screamed, someone might not. Some might have ran. A hand clamps on to Judai's arm, a boy's voice in his ear -

 _Red-orange-white fire._

 _Burning!_

The pain, oh the _pain._ The _heat. The air. His eyes! His ears!_

He's blown off his feet.

The torture could not have lasted longer than a moment, but the breath Judai sucks in feels as sweet as the first in thousands. His cheek feels like it's burning, and he tears skin off as he lifts it from the searing ground.

For the span of a dozen heartbeats he just gazes around in incomprehension.

Then he wishes from the bottom of his heart, like nothing else before, that his eyes _had_ burned out instead of only feeling like it. For then he would not have to see the ground zero that had become his school.

The monster's laser tore straight through the buildings, crossed the yard, _cut through the students,_ burned its way into the buildings on the other side and continued, continued, _continued…_

Judai's eyes trail the path of destruction numbly. A groove torn through the school like a hot knife through butter.

Bodies lie -

 _everywhere._

Body parts. A hand here, a foot there. A head. Lumps of flesh made unrecognizable by the heat safe for colorful strips of clothing. The further the bodies get away from the laser's trench, the more they look like they might actually still be whole. Dead, because if the laser didn't, then the heat did, if not the heat then their bodies will have been killed inside out by the change in air pressure and temperature.

Where he picks himself up, an arm just inside the circle of protective rose-vines is the only part of a body to have been spared. The sleeve of the school uniform is still recognizable.

Judai's eyes catch.

He knows that watch.

He'd helped Ruri choose it as Riku's birthday present because she was still so cautious about breaking the truce they had finally managed. The watch had Kaito as the face.

Judai retches.

With a sick splash, contents of his stomach spill over. Still heated ground makes it hiss and evaporate. Rancid steam bites into his eyes.

* * *

That someone is screaming and it's not him is the first hint that Judai is not the only one still alive.

He manages to tear his eyes away from _Riku's arm_ for long enough to see someone else in what used to be the schoolyard. Who is –

\- even blind dumb and deaf, even like _this,_ Judai could not have possibly missed the almost audible _**snap**_.

The fabric of the world is damaged. Enough for the existence of _Dark Rebellion **XYZ** Dragon. _

Yuto is screaming his lungs out and holding his head. That's bad, isn't it?

Numbly, Judai struggles to his feet. They fold away under him three times. Slowly he makes his way over. Something grits under his feet. In another step something crumbles like old wood. Judai can't think about that or he might go mad.

When he reaches Yuto's side, he collapses to his knees. Even then has to lean against Yuto's rigid and agonized form to keep from falling completely. His vision fades in and out. Yuto is still screaming. Blood starts dribbling past his lips, out of his hair where he clutches his head too hard.

Judai lifts a hand. Eyes it clinically, distantly. Closes his fingers in a vice grip around Yuto's upper arm. Narrows his stare.

Yuto stops screaming.

Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon creases growing more solid, and fades.

Judai is breathing hard, but manages not to faint. (Doesn't let himself notice, realize, _recognize_ what it means that the buildings of First and Second year have been annihilated, that the youngest students hadn't come out _before_ -)

As he is sitting in ruins, rusty dust of heated-to-solid blood particles coating the palms of his hands, gathering in the fabric of his clothes, in his hair, the only person still alive in what feels like the entire world at his side fighting with his sanity, something ugly is planted deep in Judai's heart.

* * *

Something ugly is planted in the hearts of all survivors that day.

* * *

(What mercy? What forgiveness? What _fixing_ things? What _sorry_? There can be no _justice_. Nothing can ever make up. There can **never** be acceptance. There can never be peace. Only be revenge. Hurting, hurting and hurting until the enemy hurts _more_.)

* * *

TBC

End of Part II-I

 _The start of the invasion: early summer, Yu-boys/Bracelet-girls/Judai+Johan/Sayaka are all twelve or turn twelve this year, Shun is fifteen. I'd put Dennis at fourteen (since I haven't been able to find an official age for him). Allen makes a younger impression on me, so he's eleven. Yuuma is something 20-23, the exact age doesn't matter, pick what suits you best and the rest of the Zexal cast in relation to that._

 _It's a fanfiction, of course I'm employing my artistic license._

 _We have a number of flashbacks in the anmie that show how Heartland is a literal blaze. We see destruction and chaos and panic. While I'm aware that in the anime no one died, that's too fairy-tale like for me. In panics people tend to die - trampled underfoot or otherwise-, chaos makes it worse, and if the city the people are in is also burning there is no realistic way that people_ didn't _die. Maybe Academia tried to card everyone before that happened, but I frankly can't see them running after people into burning buildings to do so. In this story people died. People died a lot. The strike dealt do Judai's school was brutal and not representative of Heartland as a whole, but what but mass-destruction could possibly be the purpose of those Antique Gear Chaos Soldiers? And mass-destruction, by definition, is not precise. Especially not in an urban area. Therefore, again, people died.  
_ _The large-scale attack has tactical reasons. Academia (is told it) wants to take the dimension over, and the Professor wants to have as many people carded as possible. Allowing them a chance to mobilize and fight back (which is what would happen if if weren't a blitzkrieg attack) is counterproductive to both of those motives. Another possible way would have been to give XYZ the carding technology and then spark a war where both sides gather energy for him, but in that scenario he risks his own powerbase. The obvious conclusion is to put XYZ into a state that makes carding people easiest. I.e. no one to fight back, no one even with the will to resist the fate in store for them, no one with the resources to, as well as somehow making getting turned into a card appealing (and who would want to get turned into a card unless living was the worse choice?)._

 _I've had people ask me about Yubel's seeming absence already, and it's like this:  
_ _Judai is shell-shocked and reeling. That turns him into an unreliable narrator. Yubel is there of course, but she isn't omniscient and couldn't predict this, thus couldn't prevent it. She protected him from the blast of course, but what else was she supposed to do? What else_ could _she do? She's as caught off guard as anyone, and there are no words of comfort she could give Judai. In the first place, Judai's state of mind isn't sound enough to form coherent thoughts, never mind trade words that mean_ nothing _in this situation with Yubel. She can't even tell him things like do-this-do-that-look-over-there, because those instructions would go in one ear and out the other. He can hardly_ think, _never mind follow instructions. All Yubel can do is_ be _there, and let him lean on her. And her influence_ is _visible in the fact that Judai_ isn't _screaming bloody murder. We all know what killing (or seemingly killing) his friends before his eyes leads to after all. In fact, Judai can do as much as moving all thanks to her providing the mental stability._ She is there _._ Yubel is very much there. _Judai just doesn't see her, so we don't get told about her. Because she's in his soul, that's all non-material and Judai's not coherent enough right now to deal with anything that_ _isn't screaming in his face. So no mention of Yubel. For now. She'll be back next chapter._

 _I thought about cutting the Arc off here, but I'm not that mean. I've got some more written, the important plot points set, and because I don't want to reconsider all of those_ again _, I'm just deciding to publish it now._

 _So, whatcha think of the beginning of hell and trauma for the Heartlanders?_


	20. II-II: closed door

Part II-II

Warnings: more violence, and the aftermath thereof. Taking a life in self-defense and in defense of others. More trauma. Also: unreliable narrator.

* * *

closed door

* * *

Judai doesn't remember how Yuto and him left the ruins of their school behind. Or how long it took them. Or why they did it.

It's just that the next instance he remembers clearly is this:

People, maybe two dozen. Screaming. Running.

Looking in the direction where they came from.

Flames high, a roaring unstoppable blaze. Glowing duel disks. Sword like. Glowing eyes of tiny versions of _the giant_. The monsters like a wall herding people like animals. The _demons_ in uniform and laughter _, laughing, laughterlaughterlaughter_ advancing like a tide as they pick of the people fleeing from them like prey. Screaming people falling before them like leaves. So many. So, so many. _Everywhere._

Logically they can't have been everywhere because Judai knows then they would not have gotten away, but it had seemed like from every direction, from every niche, more of them came. More robots, more soldiers, more _laughing._

More _Fusion._

A mother on her knees, holding her children to her chest, begging the demons. Laughter, purple flash of light. The woman and her children disappearing, cards with their portraits in their stead.

More purple flashes. More _laughter_.

The beginning of a never ending nightmare.

 _Laughter._

* * *

Children watch with terror rounded eyes. The sight burns itself into their brains. They run for their lives.

* * *

Dust burns in his chest. His mouth is parched, his eyes are searingly dry. His breath is coming in short, choked pants and his legs burn as he forces them to run _just one step more. One step more. One step more-_

When his knees finally give out, he is the only one collapsing. The ground is shaking in the rhythm of giant feet, traveling from the tips of his fingers deep into his chest.

Blood is pounding in his ears like drumbeats to human sacrifice. Violent shivers tear his body down and he ends up curling in on himself hoping, _praying_ it would stop, clawing at his ears as though it would make it _stop_. His clothes are wet with cold and hot sweat, liquefying ash, dust and blood-rust particles into a skin-coating slime.

(Darkness. Darkness inside. The only comfort. Yubel.)

( _But the noise still doesn't stop_.)

Breathing. Just breathing.

The smell of fire, ash and blood lodging at the back of his throat. Eyes closed, head between his legs, praying to wake up.

He is not waking up.

He doesn't know how long it takes him notice that he is _alone_. That there is no one with him struggling with the same.

Unearthing his head from between his knees, Judai looks around. The ruined street is abandoned. Craters of all sizes litter it. Heat and light stings his eyes from the burning buildings on either side of him.

He should be dead. He wishes he were dead. But Yubel's guard is absolute.

Alone.

He stares dazedly at nothing.

Where is Yuto.

Toru.

Ruri.

Riku.

Shun.

Makka.

Martha-san.

Yuto was with him.

He stares blankly around. Yuto is gone.

Lost.

Somewhere. Sometime.

Judai shudders and fights with his body to _get up_.

The screaming stopped. Or has it? Maybe Judai just can't hear it.

Because the explosions haven't.

He crawls out of the shadow of the half melted car he collapsed against. Looks up and around. _What is happening. Don't want to die. (You won't die._ A voice as familiar as the back of his hand, as the darkness behind closed eyes. Her tone is fierce and unyielding. Not dying is not a comfort.)

Giants are everywhere, he hears faintly the grating of their gears and the hissing of their lasers. Sees their demonic forms towering over the highest building - of what once _was_ the highest building – sees them looming over the wall dividing Heartland like adults over a child's pillow fort.

Some are clustered in groups. The nearest -

In the nearest group, one robot soldier it torn apart by a white-gold shooting star.

Judai blinks.

Like a supernova, it consumes a giant. Then two. Three. All of them.

Destroyed.

By something.

For a brief moment a hole is torn into the low hanging clouds. Sunlight peaks through. Then the blueness is devoured by more black smoke.

Judai's head tears around to put his eyes on the next group.

Battle.

Someone is fighting there too.

And the next cluster of robots.

And the next.

Everywhere his sight turns, the clustered _beasts_ are opposed.

Over there thunder splits the air. Over there light spears down from heaven. Over there the earth reaches up. Over there ice tears apart. Over there two cut halves fall apart.

Judai turns and turns.

Over there one turns to dust. Over there one is shredded. Another is blown up.

Judai turns.

Over there a defender is destroyed and the place where its summoner must have stood goes up in light.

And turns.

Small monsters. More when he looks to pick them out. Squashed like flies. But. Fighting.

In whirlpools of light other, different, _stronger_ golems are born and reborn. More and more appear. Not all in places where they are fought.

As Judai watches, a laser pour down into the ground like a spear of red-white fire.

As Judai watches, a symbol is thrown against the underside of rolling _cloud-smoke,_ quickly replaced by a form that distance shrinks to a tiny bird. In predatory flight.

It was a familiar signal.

Judai _stares_.

He almost falls over himself in his haste. Bile gathers in his throat as his heart dares to _hope_.

He runs and he stumbles, his feet dragging and his body all but numb with overload at this point, but he doesn't stop.

He comes across other people. Children hiding in cars. In torn buildings. Behind rubble. Crying for their parents, tears streaming down their faces and they stumble about.

A boy no older than four trembling in the bed of his parents even with the hole torn in the wall by mechanical claws and the rest of the building catching fire. Parents cowering as they curl around their children, incapable of finding the sense to move.

Children try to free their parents from debris that already killed them. A father holding his child in the middle of the street, frozen numb.

Older siblings crying with their younger ones as they flee without direction. People running, people hiding, people screaming in pain, despair and madness, rage. People moving away from the giant a couple blocks away.

Judai doesn't stop to help any of them.

The more he moves, the more he runs, the more he feels the strands of his mind gather together. Forming something coherent.

Terror is warring with determination under his skin. Despair with _rage_. Hopelessness with stubbornness, with _spite_.

A scream. Followed by a burst of debris and rubble. _Laughter_. Grating of gears and screws.

Judai's legs almost break in their haste to stop. He peaks around a street corner.

A woman in singed clothing. A duel disk on her arm. Holding it up in helpless defense. No coherent words leaving her mouth as she stammers in terror. No defense left on the field.

Mechanical dogs. One headed, two headed. Three headed.

 _Laughter._

Human skin wearing _beasts_ , dressed in red, blue and yellow. Not adults. _Teenagers._

 _Laughter._

Purple light flashes, the woman disappears with a cut-off scream.

Laughter.

Flicking of a card. Carelessly tossed aside. Where it catches flames in a small fire. A card with the picture of the woman. Laughter.

Judai's blood freezes colder than the darkness of space, penetrating deep, _deep deepdeep-_

 _Laughter._

Laughter and friendly clapping of shoulders. Like comrades, like triumph. Like Judai did at Ruri's won duels. Like Ruri's embrace after defeat. Like teachers do in pride with a smile. Like Toru as they laugh together in the backyard. Like Riku pushing his back when he dallies.

Judai's body straightens without his say-so and he loses the precious ability to reason. Yubel, a steady, somber support his mind leaned on to not fall apart, reaches out with _alarmed_ attention. _Judai, you're -_

He is noticed as he steps out of his hiding spot.

Laughter stops. Smirks, _so so_ wicked smiles. Leering. Voices blend together in a rush. Judai stands and doesn't feel his body anymore – not the pain or exhaustion or terror or _or or oror_ \- His shoulders are straight, determined. His jaw is clenched as his head tilts back to look at them like the scum they are.

There is no fear. No rage. No shock. No pain. No disbelief. Nothing but a faint tickling of disgust as he eyes -

Judai blinks at the empty street.

And blinks again as a sudden wave of vertigo assaults him.

Hand to his head, he starts running again. He doesn't know what happened to those...those _monsters_ and doesn't care either.

* * *

Judai finds Shun. Engaged in battle.

Including the duel with Kaito during the Carnival, it may be the hardest duel Shun ever fought. His expression is biting and wrathful beyond words. His eyes are entirely the sulfur yellow of the Raid Raptors.

"Shun!"

There are onlookers around even now. The look in their eyes is different from before, a terrified hopeful look as they watch Shun battle for them. No, not only Shun. There are four others fighting with him.

Shun doesn't notice him.

Judai's knees feel weak, seeing him – something, anything, his _friend_ – alive, but he can't. No matter how much he wants to be grateful and cry and let _everything_ overwhelm him, he can't.

To pause means to stop. To stop is to give in. To give in is to _give up._

As his harsh pants want to double him over, he looks around. For something – anything -

And stops.

It's stupid he hasn't thought of it before. Those are _monsters_. _Duel Monsters._ Shun is fighting a _duel_. Blindly, Judai gropes for his duel disk and finds it loyally attached to his hip.

The technology isn't the same. Judai doesn't have Real Solid Vision. He should need a D-gazer to use it or see the monsters he summons. Who knows if they would even be considered part of the ongoing duel.

It doesn't matter.

Judai activates it, draws his cards, and jumps into the fight.

* * *

How dare they. How dare they. How dare they. How dare they.

It only clicks now. He _recognizes_ those uniforms now. The monsters. The _tactics._

How dare they. How dare they. How _could_ they.

How COULD they.

That's Duel Academia.

DUEL ACADEMIA.

 _-how_ DARE _they._ _how_ DARE _they._ _how_ DARE th _ey. how_ DA _RE_ they _._ _how_ DA _RE_ they _._ _how_ DARE they _._ _how_ DA _RE_ they _._ _how_ DARE they _._ _how DARE_ they _._ _how_ DARE they _._ _how_ DA _RE_ they _._ _how_ DA _RE th_ ey _.-_

Never before did Judai feel marked for being a lone Fusion user in a world of XYZ. But with Fusion being barbarized for _this-_

Hand over the cards for the next move, Judai's motion halts.

 _Flash Fusion_ looks up at him. So does the spell _Maiden of Sacrifice_.

In the end it's an easy choice. There is nothing he gives up here by withdrawing Fusion – there is nothing worth keeping it.

Destroying Elemental HERO Thunder Giant and sending Flash Fusion to the grave, Judai summons Yubel to the field.

She materializes at his back instead of in front of him. Her muscular arms lean on his shoulders, warm and alive, her chin rests on his head. Her strength is his, that which keeps him up.

Judai can't put into words how much that silent support means to him right then. But he only allows himself that comfort for a moment.

Because there is something he needs to _destroy_. The fire roaring in his blood will settle for nothing but _obliteration_.

"Battle. Attack Ultimate Hound Dog." The Guardian of his soul's three eyes glow an eerie, savage orange. Steel teeth bite her invulnerable scaled skin a moment later. An unholy, malicious smirk peels her lips back. " _Nightmare Pain_."

With relish Yubel's thorns tear into flesh covered by light armor. She is real, she is solid, more than any other summon.

She is _painful._

 _Suffer as I suffer. Feel what I feel. This is the Nightmare come true. This is the Pain that_ you _inflicted._

2800 points of direct damage in conditions as real as they are, as real as Judai _wants_ them.

That Ra Yellow does not get back up.

But he is only one of many and easily replaced.

* * *

In the end it doesn't matter how many duelists they take out or how many of them fall. There are others, more. _Replaced_.

Judai hopes those that they take out _suffer_ even when they burst into light and return where they came from.

In contrast for their side, all that they have in means of back up is someone new with a duel disk and will (anger, courage, despair) to fight crawling out of the woodwork. Attack, replaced. More and more. But the moment where people stop coming to help, they'll be overwhelmed.

When Judai's body is aching, bruises forming, harsh breath comes between his lips, and precious few cards remaining in his deck, it is one of the newcomers that saves them in the end.

Instead of tackling one of those Antique Gear monsters, a toy soldier deals the last blow to the foundation of a building next to their enemies. The building crumbles over the street, burrys the duelists, not the monsters. Moments after, the monsters themselves burst into light.

Judai doesn't pay the mountain of debris under which half a dozen people just found their (possible) end any mind. He needs his focus to readjust to the fact that the fight is over and _no planing out the next move_ and trying not to lose function of his body.

Which he achieves by finding something else to focus on.

(He's always been good at compartmentalizing. That tastes bitter now.)

The man who saved them is small, pudgy, and utterly terrified in a way that marks him as someone who isn't a duelist. And he really isn't; he didn't duel and _ended it instead_.

Judai's hind-brain assimilates the tactic with a speed close to light while the rest of him mechanically resets his duel disk and deck.

"We need to find a place to hide," one of the survivors says, voice scratchy, trying to grasp for some sort of sanity in the madness. Judai doesn't know if he's one of the onlookers or duelists, but it doesn't really matter. He seems older though, maybe an office worker, and maybe that is why he can think of stuff like that while Judai feels like he is caught in a whirlpool. "A place to withdraw to. Wait for help."

"...The cellar. My house has a cellar," offers someone else after minutes of silence where no one manages to think.

Shun stares dazedly at nothing, sweat running lines through the grime on his face. "My sister."

Judai feels what ground he has managed to gather under his feet slip away again.

Ruri.

Yuto.

Riku.

Toru.

Makka.

Martha-san.

Judai says, hoarse, "The school, Shun. You can't. Yuto is somewhere. But Ruri -"

Fanatical light glows in Shun's eyes, he probably doesn't even hear a word. And. And-

Maybe Ruri _isn't. Maybe she wasn't in school yet._

The other people stare at Shun with the sort of glazed look that Judai will become familiar with soon – when people can't _process_ more, when a filter cuts out everything that isn't the _one thing_ they can focus on, that they need to survive.

Shun takes off. He is running, but his body can hardly keep upright, swaying and stumbling like a drunk.

Judai has a brief moment of hesitation. Go with him. Or not. Some place safe, a cellar. Dark. To collapse. A break. Safety.

Shun. His friend. _Ruri._ Yuto somewhere misplaced. Maybe others. If. If if-

Judai loves his friends as much as he can love anything in this madness. Without them, why even bother. He goes.

* * *

Later Judai will have enough distance to see that Shun went half crazy. It won't be judging. Just observing. Because Shun is only one of many who lose parts of their mind. Shun, unlike many, gathered his pieces again when they found Ruri.

And Yuto.

Together.

(In the future, Judai will think back to this and remember.)

Two others.

Sayaka.

Judai stares at her because he could have sworn she'd been one of those burned at the school. She says she was too afraid to go outside to look and hid in the closet at the back of the classroom instead. It protected her from blown in glass, the blast, the worst of the pressure and temperature changes. She was lucky to crawl out of that dark space and find a field of corpses.

Together, they hide and cower in corners of tall buildings, in and behind mountains of rubble as they try to gather their breath and wait for night to fall. Night is darkness, is hiding, is safety.

* * *

TBC

 _If need be, I'll be making up Yugioh cards. One of those is Maiden of Sacrifice. A quick spell card: Send two cards, from your field or your hand, to the graveyard to Special Summon Yubel from your deck, hand or graveyard._

 _Judai's observations miss a lot here. The fact that Sayaka survived showed that the assumptions he makes aren't always accurate, but her survival is not one train of thought he'll follow to the end. Riku's fate he knows. And knowing Toru, there's no way he also hid in a closet. No way he wasn't at the center of the commotion. I.e. the courtyard. And Toru didn't have anything supernatural defending him._

 _This is the Invasion, so violence will continue to be a theme for the next chapters. These people fight for their survival, to save anything at all of their sense of self (their city, their homes, their culture, their people), and you know what people say about cornered animals. I'll also be spending a lot more time on a comparatively small time frame. The invasion marks all those that come out of Heartland, changes them, teaches them things about battle, survival and desperation. I can't just skip out on that._

 _About that trio of Academia students Judai ran into... They weren't Obelisk Force, and they aren't there to mow down any potential opposition. They're there to do carding and not much else. Are still students after all. They probably don't think about what they are doing either. They saw others turn people into cards and laugh while they're at it so they assumed that's how things were done. They just concluded there wasn't anything bad about turning people into cards. Even if they don't actually know any of that can-be-turned-back-into-a-person stuff. That's conditioning at work. Mass-psychology. The belief that their fellow Academia associates would never behave in a barbaric way. These are_ people _. People who make mistakes, who have their own versions of reality just like everyone else has. People, who can be deceived. People who prefer to look through rose tinted glasses than face the mere possibility of a truth so ugly, it would threaten their sense of self. So the majority of the people who came to Heartland to not think too hard about what they are doing._  
 _Judai is not in a state of to care about any of that. His sub-conscience even less. This was the first crack where the_ power _of the Herald leaked through, which was what alarmed Yubel so, because Judai is still_ so young _. And by 'power' I mean that overwhelming power that made O'Brien run for his life and that gathered an army in a matter of months, not all those 'side-effects' that Judai can to in every-day life, like seeing monsters, talking to them, materializing them, etc and that are parlor tricks in comparison. Feel free to use your imagination about what happened to those three Academia students._

 _If you're all already upset with me for what this Invasion is like, you're going to want to tear my head of for the next chapter. But I have excuses! And reasons!_


	21. Interlude: the light goes out

Part II-II

Interlude

* * *

the light goes out

* * *

For every soldier he takes out, another two take the vacant place. For every robot falling down (adding wreckage and crater to a city already in flames), a new Fusion replaces the lost attack power.

In the beginning he'd been convinced he could do this all day, no matter that the attackers are so many or that they have awesomely closely coordinated teamwork. The weight of dueling with high stakes is familiar to him, and good the soldiers may be, they aren't _that_ good.

He'd thought that before flames roared up like they wanted to give every building a paint-over, before the sky became oppressive with rolling smoke, so low he could almost touch it. Before his ears went deaf from the explosions, the high screeching of the metal monsters' gears and lasers. Before he became unable to hear the screams of Heartland's people and before his body felt like a jigsaw puzzle threatening to fall apart.

Before he had, well, _done it all day._

Ignoring the protest of his ribs, the burning in his chest and the pounding of his head, Yuuma laughs. Not because he is happy or because something is funny but because he likes laughing and he feels like he needs it.

How often has he recycled his deck by now? How long as it been anyway since this duel had started? He must be putting up some kind of record.

His friends haven't been around, meaning they're all caught up in similar messes. Yuuma assumes they are doing better than him.

Definitely it has been some time since he has last had Hope attack (and draw into the duel) some of these soldiers that went after other people (people without duel disks, people running screaming, _mothers carrying their babies_ , lost children alone, or even other duelists) but that is mostly because it seems like he very thoroughly got these bad guys' attentions.

Yuuma hopes everyone has gotten away. Hopes his friends are safe. They'll take care of everything – find out who's attacking them, why, what to do about it. Yuuma is kind of sorry he won't be able to help them but stuff like that isn't really his forte anyway.

A hand falls to his Extra Deck. It is warm under his touch.

Won't be able to help them _much_. Or in person. He's just one person. He matters little. (Besides, you know, being a requirement to open a certain kind of portal. As he had been reminded of frequently in the last months. Yuuma possibly sees the reason for their fretting now. But given this mess, Astral will be too busy anyway.)

But he can't let the soldiers in front of him (and behind and above and left and right, and as far as he can see) get away. They'd go after someone else – people hiding, not yet gotten away; people that _can't_ run. Go after his home. He kind of doesn't want to hurt them either, but beggars can't be picky or something.

No matter how many he fights, how many he defeats – it's not enough – not like this. Even if he gets out of this bind, he can't be everywhere. Even as he is here now fighting, somewhere else lives disappear. ...There is a way to lessen that, though.

Astral will scold him.

In his mind's eye he pictures a sphere of cards around him, like the first time he laid eyes on them. Imagines, imagines, _imaginesremembers_ what it had felt like when they broke under his touch.

His heart shows him a shower of shooting stars across a sky he cannot glimpse.

His vision is dimming. Fingers cupping the pendant he never let go of are numbing. Despite the heat that he felt not so long ago from the infernos blazing, he is freezing. His clothes are sticky with equal parts blood and sweat.

Yuuma may be able to recycle his deck but the damage to his body doesn't disappear.

Still. He's gonna bring it to them!

* * *

TBC

 _Before you come down on me, not this isn't the last we see of Yuuma! It's a tiny bit of a spoiler, but there you go. He'll have an important role still!_  
 _Why Yuuma doesn't pull a tactical retreat? Well. This is the sort of person who risks his life to save an enemy. If by keeping going he can save anyone at all, he'll do that, no regard to his own safety. Besides that, heh, he's terrible at tactical retreats. Academia is not inclined to let someone as powerful as him escape either. Their Fusion-is-superior world view sure got flipped upside down when they ran into an XYZ user who could smack them around like beginners._

 _About why Yuuma has the Numbers and is able to scatter them. As he and Astral are two halves of the same whole, my headcanon says that when Yuuma needs the Numbers, even when Astral can't leave the Astral World (which he can't right now), he can have the Numbers. Especially since they've had some more years of experience between them. It's not like this would be the first instance of Yuuma using the Numbers on his own either. Given this invasion, of course Yuuma needs the Numbers. Because he's the one who used them at the time and scattered them, the drawback of that will fall on him too, of course, but that will be addressed later. He also scatters them because with that he gives other people better odds to defend themselves, and lessens the losses more effectively than if he kept them all to himself - he can't be everywhere at once._

 _As the end of this chapter implies, yes, Yuuma gets turned into a card. He isn't down yet, and he'll make Academia fight for every lifepoint they take from him, but he won't get out of it. But_ come on _, do you think something like being_ turned into a card _would stop_ him _? Think about what happens to the people turned into cards and then toss in something bright and persistent as Yuuma._


	22. II-II: just keep moving on

Pert II-II

* * *

just keep moving on

* * *

Judai's tongue is parched. It's probably not the most important observation given the situation, but it's the easiest to process and the most distracting.

It's dark now, pitch black in a way Judai has never seen before. From the sky at least. All light they have dances across the heavy smoke clouds' underbelly in orange flickers. Around them, Heartland is burning itself down to the bones.

Red dots of giants patrolling the city reach almost as high as the clouds. The crushing of stone and buildings and streets under their weight sounds through the night. Most is swallowed by cracking and popping of flames, though, as the giants seem to be done with this part of the city. Flashes of motion and thunder show duels still going on. Judai wonders if there are some that are as desperately needing allies as Judai and Shun needed in their duel. He wonders if anyone is answering that prayer.

Explosions.

Head tilted back against the remains of a wall, Judai's eyes glaze over the sooted ceiling above him. His nose stopped being able to smell fire some time ago, but he assumes it must be everywhere. The stones against his back are blackened after all. And they are in what remains of a small family's home after the building burned itself out. The upper floors have crumbled, half of the ceiling of the ground floor broke. They're in what remains of the living room. It still has a ceiling. Who knows, it might just collapse on them yet.

Judai had never known before. He never thought…

He is human. He thought he knew humans. He thought there was nothing unknown – nothing to _fear_. Not when it was them who needed to fear him – if _he_ ever lost control -

When _he_ is the most terrible thing there is, wearing human skin.

How wrong.

He is very afraid. If he hadn't asked his deck-friends to watch over the area he would not even be able to sit here, resting, in the torn away remains of a home.

Breaking of wood, scabbing of stone.

Judai's gaze drops to earth to see a woman Judai doesn't know shoving debris aside.

"What...are you doing?" That's Ruri, arms hugging herself, trembling as she is pressed against Shun's side.

The woman looks away from a broken bit of blackened wood she's lifting. She stares at Ruri blankly and it takes her a long moment to even realize she was addressed.

Distantly Judai wonders if he takes that long to react as well. He sure feels like it.

"Looking for the cellar," she murmurs eventually. It's bright enough to see that her eyes are as reddened as theirs. Long hair is gathered in a bun at the side of her head, the rest pooling down her back. "My parents had a house like this. They stored their food in the cellar."

"...Oh," says Ruri. The woman goes back to work. Five pairs of eyes watch her blankly without comprehension until the woman's strength fails to move a piece of the front wall.

Sayaka sucks in a shaky breath and climbs to her feet. She moves to help the woman.

Even together, the two aren't strong enough.

Yuto gets up. Judai's eyes flicker to him instead of continuing to stare into nothing. Yuto helps the two women, pushing and shoving and heaving. The piece breaks into half and those halves they manage to move on their own.

Ruri crawls out of Shun's hold to help. Shun is on his feet shortly after. Judai's body moves on its own to follow. They are doing something. He must do the same.

All of them together manage to eventually unearth a set of stairs leading into pitch black darkness. No light. The woman pulls out her D-pad and uses it as a light source as she descends. Sayaka follows. After Sayaka Ruri, then Yuto.

Judai looks at Shun. Shun gazes back blankly. Whatever bit of them is still capable of thought must think the same. Judai sits back down, but this time in a position that allows him to watch the street. Shun does the same, keeping an eye on the other direction.

Street. A skyrail crashed down on it, crossing it. Craters are blown into the metal and the street in equal parts. Fire glints weakly over the metal.

"Fusion users." Shun's voice.

Judai jerks, whirling around, but he sees no one coming. Belatedly he notices that Shun's voice wasn't alarmed. Just flat.

Shun's eyes, almost seeming to glow with a harsh light, are on Judai.

Judai slumps back into his original position, back to the stairs the others disappeared down, hidden from the street by what remains of the front wall.

"...Yeah."

"I recognized some of the tactics."

"..."

"What's...your connection to them?"

"….Academia was...creepy. I ran away."

Judai senses Shun shift his weight. "Academia." Statement more than question, but demanding an elaboration nonetheless.

"The monsters." The _human_ monsters. "I thought it was just a _Duel_ School. A bad Duel School, but still s Duel School." Judai almost laughs at that. How wrong he was. So very wrong it's mind-breakingly ridiculous. If he laughs he'll kill himself.

"...a Duel School," Shun repeats in a broken whisper trembling with _rage_. His hands clench into fists on his tights. "How could a Duel School do _this? This isn't what Duel Monsters is for._ "

It really, really isn't.

...

"Hey, Shun. What is that?"

Judai points.

There is a light in the sky.

Another short lived battle?

No.

He doesn't need Yubel's eyes to sense the immense power in that light. It would be an alarming amount, if Judai had the energy to feel alarm…

 _Energy. Rising star of chaotic energy._

 _Splintering._

The bright dot is shooting up into the clouds, so strong that even when it pierces the black smoke, it is merely shrouded. It rises higher, becomes dimmer until it _bursts_ -

Shooting stars race through the sky. They rain down, like a summer-night's dream. Judai feels Yubel ripple his eyes.

The color that dyes the world is pure silver, bleeding into a light red-gold at the edges. _Direction. Intent. Intelligence. Will._ The many fragments fly with purpose. Five of them head their way.

Judai just watches blankly until Yubel shouts in his ear, jerking him out of the trance.

Diving for cover behind the rubble of the front wall, hands over his head, does _nothing to help_. The shooting star _curves_ to impact right in front of his face.

It's a card.

A glowing card.

Judai rolls on his back, sits up and looks for Shun.

Shun finds himself in a similar situation, a glowing card piercing into the stone just next to his ear.

Their eyes meet. As one, they put as much distance between the cards and themselves as they can, all but jumping into the darkness of the cellar.

"Ruri," Shun shouts. "Yuto! Ruri! Sayaka!"

Five lights. Five people.

"Nii-san!" Ruri's face is the first Judai sees, rushing to meet them. It's illuminated by...not her D-pad. A card. And a symbol burning through the fabric on her upper arm. Sayaka is trembling, hands wringing, staring blankly at nothing.

Shun and Judai freeze.

Ruri's eyes are round. "Nii-san. It's a Number."

That tells Shun something because he stiffens like a broad. "What?"

Ruri shows the card.

Behind Ruri, Yuto and the woman appear from the other room. They both have a glowing card and body part each. Yuto has a tight hold on the woman's elbow as she only seems to be able to stagger. One hand holds the card she can't take her eyes off, the other is pressed to her mouth. Tears spill down her face in twin waterfalls. She sobs something syllables that are supposed to form words but are unintelligible.

"Numbers?" Questions Judai blankly.

The others stare back at him in just as blankly. The different colored magical tattoos taunt him.

"Cards," says Yuto.

"The most powerful XYZ monsters in existence," Shun adds. His gaze gets lost in the distance. "Kaito has some. But only the best duelist have any. Most are with -"

"Yuuma," the woman chocks out. And crumbles into a weeping heap, clutching the card to her chest like an immeasurable treasure. Her long dark hair slips to the side, the glowing symbol which might be reminiscent of a sixteen on the back of her neck fades even as they watch numbly.

Ruri shakes her head as though trying to clear it, her face screwing up in concentration and then her glow disappears as well. For a moment it seems as though the opal of her bracelet managed to catch the light but it's just Judai's imagination.

Sayaka unfreezes for long enough to crouch and rub the woman's back mechanically.

Then Yuto is the only one still glowing. The symbol, and indeed it is a number when Judai looks closer, peeks out from the collar of his shirt. Yuto just looks as the card without any emotion whatsoever and puts it into a pocket. His glow is significantly slower to dim.

"…did you find something useful down here?" Judai decides to voice instead of the obvious other topic hanging in the air.

"A cupboard full of jam," replies Yuto tonelessly.

…jam.

"Do any of you have a bag?" Shun speaks, voice sounding more present than before. "Or seen one?"

Ruri bits her lower lip. "We're...just gonna take it? It's not even ours?"

No one replies to her. Judai looks around for something like a bag, splitting from the others and entering a different room. What he sees are broken cupboards, old furniture and children's toys. Clenching his D-pad between his teeth for light, he tears the door of a jammed cupboard. "...hey. Do you think we'll need clothes?"

Sayaka is the only one in earshot. She leans around him to see while he pulls a small, worn dress out. For an eight year old child maybe. In the elongated shadows he sees her swallow thickly. "We can make knots in the sleeves and the skirt. I think...we can use it as a bag then."

Numbly, Judai nods and hands her the fabric. He pulls out the next one. It's a pair of shorts.

"I think we should pack everything you can find," the woman says having pulled herself enough together to join them some time later. Her eyes and face are swollen and tear tracks have cleaned some dirt from her face. Heartbroken but not defeated. "We'll need everything we can get."

Wordlessly, Judai pulls as much as he can onto a duvet cover for a child's bed. Piles clothes upon clothes on it, then ties it together into a bundle and drags it to the stairs where other things already wait. A first aid kit. Plastic bottles. A D-pad model that went out of service ten years ago, according to the woman.

"Not too much," she reminds them. "We have to carry everything when we leave."

"Leave?" Repeats Ruri. "Where to? Why can't we stay here?"

The woman stares blankly until she manages to gather her thoughts. "...Do you think they won't be back?"

Ruri's face loses all color. "What – but – I mean," she stutters, horror dawning on her and Sayaka's face. Shun and Yuto just look grim. Judai can't get himself to make any expression either way. "Why...why would they? They already -?"

"They already destroyed everything," Sayaka mumbles hopelessly, "Why would they be back?"

Hugging her arms around herself, the woman looks back at Sayaka equally hopeless. "...why wouldn't they? Why did they...come in the first place?"

Judai and Shun's gazes meet.

Judai's mouth opens before he has time to think. "They're gonna come back." Yubel's grim certainty is enough for him. "We're still alive. Why else do this at all?"

His words are met with silence before Sayaka breaks into a despairing sob. Ruri wraps her arms around her, offering a hug that Sayaka seems to want to disappear into. Together, the three boys and the woman leave the girls to comfort each other as they carry their improvised bags up the stairs.

Did it get darker outside? If it did, that's only good for them. More darkness, easier to hide. But so far, the fires are still blazing so powerful the clouds that seem to want to smoother them are splashed with orange. The lingering heat is worse than on any summer day Judai ever saw.

It certainly got quieter. Almost completely silent. Deathly so.

Hairs on Judai's arms rise. Cautiously, he moves to check the streets.

In either direction, there is nothing.

Nothing. Not even sparks in the distance.

Oh.

The fighting ended.

Judai wonders if they're the only ones in all of Heartland still alive now. Besides Academia.

If so, maybe Academia won't come back.

(If they don't, Judai will come to them.)

He doesn't manage the few steps it would take him to return join the other three at the cellar entrance, who only now relax from the ready-positions they had jumped into when Judai had tensed. His eyes lock and his body with them as the card all but jumps to the forefront of his mind.

"Hey, Shun," Judai voices absently. "These cards. Did you pick up yours?" One step, two, then bowing down to pick it up -

 _-*§%$§""* &\- _

Judai's fingers clench on the card. His lower right arm lights up with a dark purple number.

The sudden noise in his head sends a pulse of agony into his temples. Before his inner eye: A strange humanoid figure of endless darkness with a black and gold eye. Parasite tendrils of solid shadows coiling around his mind…

Yubel _snarls_. Her power flares inside of him, hellfire burning the grasping hands. Perfect protection, less physical than normal, rises around Judai's soul.

The darkness not only has eyes but also a face that gradually takes on form and that face is _shocked_. It renews its attempt to take control of Judai but gets shut down with prejudice. Yubel builds a second layer of protection around him, then has the first expand until it's less of a protection and more of a prison around this interloper.

Judai focuses back on reality. Determinedly he shoves the card into a pocket and decides to deal with it later, if at all. Looking back at the others, he finds two of them focused on him. Yuto with narrow-eyed lack of surprise. The woman with very round eyes that rest on him with sudden trepidation.

The couple of seconds Judai was focused elsewhere, Shun seemed to have remembered the card that almost cut his ear off. With three fingers, he pulls it out of the wall.

Judai watches intensely. Shun lower left leg gains a power imprint, but there's no struggle evident on his face. The Raid Raptors would never permit any trespassing obviously, but there doesn't even seem to be an attempt. Meaning either it's only the card that chose Judai that has such a nasty side-effect, or the cards are so powerful that they could overwhelm the Raid Raptors so quickly there's not even a conflict.

Shun studies the card for a long moment, then adds it to his side-deck.

Scuffling from the stairs alert them that the girls are joining them. Sayaka has wiped her eyes and looks to be able to go on, if only just. Grief and hopelessness cloud around her like a shroud. Ruri swipes a sleeve over her own eyes, drying few tears as efficiently as she puts a stop to her grief.

They don't have time for it. Ruri knows it, allowed herself to feel just when she could afford it, and now goes on with hard determination.

People who can still feel should be allowed to. Someone should be left to mourn the dead. The dead deserve it.

Judai won't do it.

The Darkness in his heart is too deep. If he let himself feel the pain, his well of power would swallow him whole. His nightmares (that are even with what he is now living still nightmares) have shown him what that would make him.

But Ruri still can. Ruri, he thinks, might even be able to recover from this.

Unlike Shun, who switched from loving Duel Monsters for the fun of it to treating it as talons and fangs with the same speed a falcon sweeps into a dive.

And Yuto...

* * *

TBC

Of all the Numbers, of course it's 96 that decided Judai was a good choice. I know that in the anime 96 was eventually turned into an empty puppet by Don Thousand, but Yuuma and Astral did win in the end so I'm assuming even 96 returned to them. At this point it is no longer a tool of Don Thousand, is a lot less powerful than it used to be, but it does have its mind back (all the other Numbers also have a mind after all) and it's still a nasty piece of work.

The woman who is with them here - she'll get named in the next chapter. Do you already have a guess?


	23. II-II: morning laughs in my face

Part II-II

* * *

morning laughs in my face

* * *

Wartime memories pushed to the surface as though they had never been buried beneath peace and change.

Organizing people, directing them came as instinctual as it should come to anyone who had once been a princess and (for significantly longer) a warlord. For her brother it must have been the same because no later than when the first explosion rang out they had snapped into a familiar pattern.

Her brother had called all soldiers (all those wearing a duel disk, civilians, salary-men, mothers, anyone) to his command with little more than a snapped word and showed them by example what to do. How to fight. How to protect their kingdom (homes, city nowadays).

She meanwhile had taken over command of those who could not fight and gave them direction. People in panic and confusion and afraid for their lives clung to anyone who was able to project stability. It had been easy for her to instruct them to prepared shelters (buildings that they had considered for emergencies if the shelters and bunkers currently being built would not be finished in time), tell them what to grab off the streets, to tell them to throw everything away except those things that they would need later, lead them away from the battle zone, organize evacuation and search patterns.

The last time she had seen her brother she had seen his back. Their plans for regrouping were that he meet up with her and Durbe.

If the assault was globally on _this level_ -

They _had_ assumed it would be global and spread the message, warning all governments and organizations to prepare for war. But this - this was far worse than any prediction. Far worse than what they had expected and prepared for. If _they_ are this bad off, even here in Heartland at the center of spatial research, dimensional exploration and the home of the strongest duelists in the world, then Rio doesn't want to think about the rest of the planet.

Not that she can afford to, mind, having her hands full with constructing a camp (or several), building a command structure, sending off parties to salvage homes and stores for food, water, medicine, clothes, blankets, duel disks, batteries, keeping people calm now that the first shock abated and adrenaline is depleted, give comfort to people breaking down and weeping, make a headcount, estimate the resources needed, gather those willing to fight and organize them in teams, plan for further weapon production (duel disks, the materials for them, cards, the materials for them), try her best to recall the faces of infiltrators, _account_ for spy interference, identify the new Number holders and either take the cards from them or explain the risks -

Making a headcount of her friends could wait. Had to wait. If they are still alive, they know how to stay that way and she'd see them soon. If not – well, there is nothing she can do about that _now_.

The early morning hours now, sixteen hours since the beginning. Academia seems to have withdrawn for now, no giant scrap heaps with way too much fire power anywhere in what remains of the city, but it won't stay that way.

Durbe shadows her every step as she speaks to people, asks them questions, gathers information, tells them what to do. His presence is long familiar, especially in situations like this; her brother isn't around, so Durbe is with her. It had been her over-protective brother's favored way of making sure no one looked at her the wrong way.

It's an old habit Durbe is obviously falling back into and Rio can't stop him, not so long as her brother isn't there to relieve him of the duty. Not when every hour that passes rises the likelihood that the only thing they will have left is each other. Still, she'd rather have Durbe do others things.

Like search for Sakaki Yusho.

To deal with this unmitigated disaster they will need information. The man may have told them everything he knows but he is still the most up-to-date source they have and thus might be able to make more sense of the enemy's actions. Like why Academia comes at them at all. The only way 'unification of all worlds' includes 'genocide' in it's definition is if it actually meant 'total conquest'.

All out total war _was't_ what they prepared for. Maybe Kaito's worst case scenarios touched it somewhere, but this isn't the sort of unification they were made to understand Academia desired.

...If nothing else, Rio would like one more look at Sakaki Yusho to make absolutely sure he did _not_ know the scale of the attack (she doesn't think so, heart on his sleeve, all optimism and compassion that one).

Or she'd like to have Durbe (he was briefed on the profiles and data Kaito and Chris gathered too, they all were) wheedle out the spies that are sure to have already gathered in this collection of maybe two hundred people. That's what she'd do and unfortunately she must assume that the enemy is at least as smart as she.

Her internal clock tells her dawn is fast approaching. Rio doubts they will even notice the sun rise. Given that dust and smoke is so heavy in the air she needs to cover her nose to breath and that she can look maybe three hundred meters in any direction before the mockery of fog swallows it all. Even inside the stadium.

That lack of sight is dangerous but she's already set up patrols around the perimeter.

They have no idea when the second attack will come ( _if_ it will come since there isn't really that much left of their city to warrant destruction on that scale. Though once they start to rebuild or fight back...), don't have a way to be warned ahead of time and will only know they are being attacked again when they lose something.

It is quite a good thing she has ice running through her veins instead of blood, because were it blood, she would not be able to bear the weight on her shoulders.

Just finishing gathering the members for a scouting party and sending them off, Durbe nudges her side. "Rio. Look," he says, head dipping in the direction where more refugees are admitted to the former duel arena they are using as base. (For now. Too obvious. People need to be relocated as soon as possible. But good enough until she can get a grasp of the situation.)

Though she doesn't see what he means at first, the six people looking just like everyone else (crushed, destroyed, broken, hanging on by a threat), her eyes and instincts get caught by more than half of them – and that _is_ unusual.

A girl with long hair, a two boys with short hair, an older boy (fourteen, fifteen maybe), a girl with short hair. And -

Rio's feet break into a run without her permission. Kotori returns her embrace desperately, her hands trembling as they dig into the fabric of Rio's cloak. When Rio pulls back only short moments later to have a look at her dear friend, she see immediately that Kotori already _knows_. Somehow. Resting her hands on Kotori's shoulders, she squeezes tightly and smiles what is surely a horrible grimace. "You know how he is. He'll be fine." Eventually. Hopefully.

Kotori doesn't reply, keeping her gaze lowered as she slips a single card out of her D-pad. Rio looks at it and feels her heart stutter. Number 16. "It's one of the few cards that go with my deck." Tears gather in Kotori's eyes but she keeps them back. She meets Rio's eyes with despair and hope warring, begging Rio to deny what she already knows. "He is gone, isn't he?"

Rio breathes shakily and lets her arms drop. "Who knows with him what that means, but yes."

Kotori chokes on sob, then swipes a hand over her eyes, grim with desolate determination. "What do you need me to do? No, lets do that later. First," She takes a deep breath, taking a step back and turning to the children she came with. "This is Kamishiro Rio," she introduces. The children's blank, empty stares clear a bit as they focus on her. "Rio, these are Shun, Yuto, Ruri, Sayaka and Judai. Except for Sayaka they all have Numbers."

Behind her shoulder, Rio feels Durbe suck in a sharp breath.

"Numbers, really?" Gazing from one to another, she gives them an intense once-over and her attention lingers on the Eriksen boy. A Number. Him? "The way it looks at the moment people with Numbers will be the core of our defense. If you don't think you can take it be prepared to give them up." In all of the children's eyes something other than the blank daze appears – of course it does; Rio was that age once. _Direction_ and _purpose_ go along way. They're right up there with hope in the necessities of life, and a lot more practically applicable. Combine that with a survivor's desperation…

"We'll fight," the oldest boy, maybe fifteen, grits out, eyes sharp like a falcon. Shun, was it? He will either be useful or dead before long. "They'll... _pay._ " The others say nothing.

Rio smiles a sharp edged smile at him. "Oh, they _will_." But before she can get back to planing how to do that, a different matter needs her attention. Her gaze narrows dangerously on the brown haired boy. "You. There's something we need to talk about."

To her surprise, it's three of the other kids that react instead of the boy she addressed. The falcon boy takes half a step to shield him, the other younger boy with dark hair straightens and gathers his focus on her in an assessing, no longer entirely friendly way while the long haired girl clings to the boy's sleeve, also eying Rio.

Rio feels her eyebrows rise. Eriksen's head turns just as surprised from one friend to the next. The last girl just glances from one of them to the other in confusion.

"Uh," he says, blankly.

Kotori changes her stance to stand side by side with Rio, picking up on the sudden frostiness in the atmosphere. Her face is full of trepidation. "...I don't get what's going on, but, Judai-kun. Would you mind...showing her your Number? Please?" She looks like she might expect Judai to suddenly burst into mad laughter or start pulling out bombs from thin air, which is -

\- perfectly reasonable when the Number that chose him all but gleams evilly at her. Durbe shifts his weight in response, tensing.

The stare Rio fixes on Eriksen is penetrating and suspicious, searching for familiar shadows in his features. "Dark Mist?"

No sign of acknowledgement which is telling because Dark Mist ever so much loves to gloat. The card however does flare in response. Almost as though calling for her help-

Eriksen's eye twitches and he shakes the card like someone would do to dry their fingers. "Sorry, but if you want to talk to this guy, you'll have to wait until he S _tops. To. Bother. Me_." The last bit is snapped at the card. Which, wonder o wonder, _does_ silence.

"...I have no business with Dark Mist," Rio states slowly, watching the boy with new, assessing eyes, "but that Number is in the habit of taking over its users and I don't trust it." She smirks, hand on her hip. "If you have Black Mist chained, that's one thing I don't have to worry about."

"...it does that to everyone and not just me. Good to know I'm not that special," the boy mutters flatly, flicking the card once more for good measure before putting it away with no more effort than it would take to shove any other card in a pocket. "I'll be on my guard."

…assuming this isn't all just a ploy of Dark Mist's, which given the indignity it was just treated with (like a disobedient pet, which would be hilarious on any other day) Rio takes as unlikely, it follows to question _how_ it is that the boy just did what he did. No ordinary mortal can just treat a malicious Number like an _annoyance_.

She wonders, painfully, if her brother happened to forget to question the child on the depth of his understanding of Duel Monsters. Given that there was no note in the file that would even hint at it, she assumes he did, in fact, forget. Too straightforward, her brother dearest.

"Black Mist is the only Number that still does it," Rio tells the four new Number holders because they need to know. Just in case. Though Kotori already does. Quite thoroughly. "The others you should be able to use without risking that."

" _Still_ does it…" The falcon boy echoes flatly.

The long haired girl nibbles her lip, expression shocked. "...Then...the rumors...were true…"

After all that's happened today, it doesn't occur to anyone of them to doubt that there are cards capable of possessing people. Obviously. Suspension of disbelief is what kept them alive today.

Anyone stopping to question _how_ Duel Monsters can be used to do all _this_ wouldn't live long enough to get an explanation. Rio will have to use that to somehow introduce the _other_ rules that govern the game. The rules below the conventional ones. If they want to win this, they'll need to take advantage of them. But she'll have to be careful. Knowing rules your opponent doesn't can become the greatest weapon. She can't have that information slip into the hands of spies…Cue complications.

The only reason she is fairly sure that the enemy _doesn't_ already possess that knowledge is what they know about the mastermind behind this so called Duel Academia. This Professor, Akaba Leo. From the mouth of the man's supposed best friend at that. Combined with the insight they gained from one failed student of the system the man implemented…

Speaking of. "Eriksen, follow me." Leading the way through the stadium, Durbe a steady presence, she doesn't check if the boy obeys.

So far they have only managed to salvage a small number of tents (if Academia returns they will have to abandon them, but the people need the assurance a roof over their heads give them to not break down completely), but Rio managed to claim a reasonable big one for herself. Or rather for the leader, which is her. It has flaps to give an illusion of privacy, which she now holds aside to let Eriksen through.

She needs the space too, a hastily erected table with a self-charging computer taking up one corner, a bigger camping-style table standing in the center with a map of Heartland spread over it and sports bags filled to the rim with things like ink and a printer. For those she still has to find someone capable of getting the most use out of them. Fortune given, she'll have the chance.

Kotori and the short haired girl didn't follow, but Rio has no doubt Kotori will find something essential for them both to do - she's good at that. Durbe steps in the way of the three other kids as they make to enter as well. When they make to protest, Rio waves a hand at Durbe. "Let them."

"Rio," says Durbe, lips pressed together in disapproval. Rio ignores him and sweeps into the tent to, as Droite already remarked dryly, hold court. Durbe will ensure that no one bothers them and indeed, no sooner than the flap slipped close does the feel the tingle of a spell ghost over her skin.

The only one who seems to notice it beside her is Eriksen, the others are too busy eying her with varying degrees of wariness to bother with something that might just as well be a chill.

Rio eyes them back, projecting her most commanding presence. Their backs seem to straighten subconsciously in return. "I'll preface this by saying that you are not to speak of anything you hear in here unless I give explicit permission. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt since you already seem to have guessed the most problematic issue and are here anyway." She smiles without humor. "If we all survive long enough, then I'll have the four of you put into a permanent team. Not everyone will be willing to work with a Fusion user."

Falcon Boy, Shun if she remembers right, crosses his arms, making even the simple movement seem defiant. "Judai can duel without Fusion." There's a challenge in the way he speaks, looks, expects her to respond that she understands. Her reputation won't gain her his respect, she'll have to earn it.

Rio levels a sharp, even look right back. "Perhaps he can, but I won't ask anyone to cripple themselves. Furthermore, as it stands, I might not know Eriksen personally but I _do_ have more information than you. Listen and learn."

At that Eriksen stirs while Falcon Boy is taken aback. Eriksen studies her with a flicker of surprise, maybe even a bit of relief. "Are you one of the people who sent Miss Droite to speak with me?"

His friends glance between Rio and him as though trying to fit a puzzle together. The Shun boy gains a thoughtful tilt to his mouth when he looks back at her. One point gained, she guesses.

"One of many and only peripherally, but yes. My name's Kamishiro Rio."

"Ah. I'm Eriksen Judai. But you already knew that." Eriksen shifts his weight uncomfortably, waiting.

Rio lets him wait, studying his reactions. Demeanor. Expression. By narrowing her eyes she makes sure to rise the tension and to observe his reactions to that as well. He gets uneasy, yes, but not ready for fight-or-flight. Were he someone who mentally designated her as an enemy, he wouldn't be able to hide that. Not as shell-shocked and reeling as he and his friends still are. So.

If he is an enemy, that leaves only one possibility. Without taking her gaze off him, she opens her card holder and flicks a card at the boy. He catches it out of the air and looks at it.

The girl leans over his shoulder. The other two boys rather continue to watch her. The girl's eyebrows knit together in confusion while her friend's face hardens.

So he _does_ know. As Kaito had expected.

"...The book of...Taiyou...?" The girl reads, lost as she looks between her friend and Rio, obviously reading just like Rio does that Erikson understands something from the card that isn't printed on it. The girl's suspicion comes back, a glare warning Rio not to harm her friend.

Eriksen flicks the card back with more force than warranted.

"Well?" demands Rio.

"I'm not given a choice, am I?" Eriksen returns, hitting the nail on the head with hard tilt to his head. "I wrote down all I know for you. But it's not enough, I get it."

"If it weren't enough we would not be having this conversation." Rio's voice counters like a dagger, allowing a tiny flicker of the rage she feels to the surface. Shadows flash though the boy's eyes in response. "Did you look around you? Look at what's become of Heartland. You won't be the only one I'm submitting to this, but you're the first because I'm _not_ gambling with even so much as a water bottle. Never mind someone like you who came from _the very people who did this to us._ "

Eriksen grits his teeth, glaring at the ground, but he does untangle the hand the girl has on his arm and steps out of the shield of his friends.

Rio activates her duel disk.

The children straighten in alarm.

"What are you talking about?" Demands Falcon boy, just short of falling into defensive position. "What's - ?"

"It's fine," Eriksen speaks up, tone and expression warming for them. His gaze jumps from one to another and he actually manages to smile and shrug. "She just needs to make sure I'm not a spy or anything. I'd do the same in her position."

"…I don't see how she wants to do that. Or what a duel disk has to do with it," the dark haired boy states slowly, flatly, angrily.

Eriksen opens his mouth. Closes it. Looks to Rio as though asking how to explain this.

"I'm not going to duel your friend." Tossing a strand of hair over her shoulder, she puts a hand on her hips to seem less threatening despite her duel disk still glowing. This is not an inquisition. She just makes _sure_. No need to alienate some of her people. "However. Do you honestly think that if Duel Monsters were a mere card game, it could decimate a city in a matter of hours? Real Solid Vision or no? The Numbers you have – do you think they are mere ink on paper?" They should be able to sense the cards' sentience, so obviously: No. "We are just predisposed to think that because we grew up with the practice of it as a game. There's far more to it; I am going to use the Book of Taiyou in the same way the police would use a lie detector. Or a truth serum."

"...What?" The girl stares at her, taken aback. "How – that's impossible. ...isn't it?"

"No, it isn't," say Eriksen, mouth twisting. He gives a short glance at the dark haired silent boy whose expression changes to slow comprehension from what he reads in that look. "It's difficult to explain, but just think about it. _Flip one face down monster into face up attack position_ ; that's the effect of the Book of Taiyou. Real Solid Vision already makes all the effects real. Think about what that means if she's going to use the card on me."

The girl's mouth parts. "You...aren't a monster," she points out, confused.

Eriksen nods. "But 'monster' actually means 'target of the effect', doesn't it? It's 'monster' because that's the understanding we have of it in a game. And I might not be able to 'flip into face up attack position', but if you cut down on the intended meaning, it just says that 'that of the target which is hidden is revealed'. There are no definitions given on any cards for what 'monster' or 'spell' or 'trap' actually means." Eriken scratches his cheek, at a loss how to better explain. "That means you can fill those words with meaning yourself. And apply it. If you know how."

Rio nods sharply. "Everything can be interpreted to suit your end. And making an'optimal for you in this moment' effect out of a random card is what we call the Other Rules of Duel Monsters. A deeper, more basic set of limitations that aren't so much rules as they are guidelines that can allow you to manipulate the world around you with the cards. What you can do with Duel Monsters, if you can draw on their power, depends entirely on your skill to connect with the cards."

"...even decide the fate of the world," mutters the dark haired boy after a heavy silence in dawning, horrified understanding. His crossed hands clench.

Rio couldn't have found better words herself. The implications need to sink in for a moment, so she pauses briefly before continuing. "As if that isn't troublesome enough, thanks to Real Solid Vision even bastards with a trigger happy finger can do some real damage now." To say nothing of the _organized, methodical_ destruction and army of duelist is capable of. None of them need to be reminded of it. "On the upside for us Real Solid Vision will make taking advantage of the Other Rules easier."

It hurts that it has come to this again. As Princess Rio, as Merag, and now as Kamishiro Rio she's had her fair share of duels where an immense weight lies on every single draw. She thought that, after thousands of years, with Don Thousand finally buried, she wouldn't have to deal with high stakes anymore, that she was finally able to just enjoy life.

"The only saving grace we have," she admits reluctantly, heavily, "is that Academia is science bound and unfeeling. They don't have the heart needed to grasp the true potential of Duel Monsters." With that, she slots the magic card into place.

Orange light glows as the miniature generator in her new Real Solid Vision duel disk reads the card and implements the stored matter to achieve the requested effect. That's more than enough to take most of the heavy burden of casting a spell outside of a duel from her. It supports Rio's intent through creating an orange lit circle with inlaid reverse pentagrams. To allow Rio more fine-control, the programming in her disk was left with only the barest bones. She had requested so, months ago now, and doesn't regret it for it makes her summons stronger. But the downside is that if she has to fight a lot, it will be more tiring.

The target of her spell is the boy before here eyes. What she wants is the darkness of lies flipped to truth.

"Do they?"

The three children not caught in the spell watch with wide eyes.

Eriksen adopts a face between pain and relief, the expression also drawn forth. "I only saw one campus, but they all looked at their cards as though they were only ink on paper, like replaceable tools. If there are people who understand the true power, they're the exception."

With that he confirms what her brother and Kaito had assumed and what she is inclined to agree with, having seen how their so-called elite force operate. But that leads her to one glaring question mark. "How do you know then? If they didn't teach it to you."

Under the spell's influence, Eriksen promptly opens his mouth. "Yubel."

"Who's Yubel?"

The boy's fists clench, the first sign of relucatance. "A Duel Spirit."

Not a conventional source then. That's good. "Why did you come to this world?"

"I didn't want to stay at Academia. I didn't even want to stay in the same dimension and I would have never been permitted to just drop out. I stole a prototype duel disk and merely activated already input data." This answer comes easier. Unlike the matter of 'Yubel' he doesn't seem to mind speaking about this. "I didn't actually expect a dimension with humans."

Rio presses her lips together. The most crucial question. "Did you know what your world had planned for ours?"

The other children jolt, the mere possibility that their friend might have known only just occurring to them. The oldest boy watches intently, sharply, taking in even how Rio holds this spell.

Eriksen's reply is immediate. "No."He takes a deep breath and starts to elaborate before Rio has to ask. His expression is pained. "They teach at Academia that they work towards a 'unification of all Four Dimensions'. Of the Four Dimensions that Academia knows of at least. I didn't bother to think more about it at the time, just assumed it was something like trade and communication and exchange of culture and stuff. Maybe permanent open dimensional gates, or the worlds blending together or something. I didn't – who would -" he swallows and licks his lips. "I didn't know."

Again, that corresponds with what Rio remembers her brother telling her about his investigation. "One last thing. If Academia offers you a way back, will you betray us?"

The temperature drops. Eriksen, tone flat and eyes _burning,_ says "I'll stop Academia." His hands spasm. "I won't let them do as they please and I want them to regret ever coming up with this stupid idea of 'unification'. If there's only rubble left of them in the end, I'm not going to care."

…Rio shuts down her duel disk, ending the spell.

The boy staggers. The girl leaps forward to steady him.

She blows out a breath. "It was necessary, I won't apologize. With this I won't have to consider possible motives for putting a spy in your position. That's a weight of my shoulders and I'll be able to make use of you."

"Spy!" The girl gasps, shocked. "That's – there aren't - couldn't be any spies! ...could there?"

The look Rio levels at her quiets her so fast, the silence is left ringing. Her duel disk swooshes out of existence at the press of a button. "Naive. So long they haven't achieved their objective there will always be spies. We don't even _know_ what their end objective is. Assuming it is total genocide of all of us, of course there will be spies. Everyone you doesn't have at least two people vouching for them is suspect."

Once he gave Eriksen a once over, Falcon Boy Shun watches with intelligent, fast learning attention as she steps behind the desk. "I assume you have measures against that."

"Many," Rio replies. "None of which are any of your business for now." She taps her fingers against the table, looking from one too young face to another. "You have Numbers and two of you already said you're willing to fight. What about the rest of you?"

"Fight how?" The dark haired boy asks slowly, stepping out of second row and joining the others opposite of her, looking down at the map.

"Depends. As of now, I'd ask you – after you had some rest – to head out into the city again. I already have salvage teams go through the ruins for useables. I saw you already brought some with you when you arrived. Thankfully more and more of our people turn out to have survived, but we need water. Food. Medicine. Clothes." She taps the second nearest hospital of their position meaningfully. "This one is still enough intact that we may hope for some medicines."

The dark haired boy abruptly loses all color as he follows her finger. He has to lean on the table, breathing harshly. "...enough intact…?"

"It burned out," Rio clarifies, frowning, "wasn't hit by a blast. And as hospitals tend to have vacuum sealed storage because -"

"-because some medicament are dangerous in the wrong quantities. Accidents can happen and so they need to be quarantined should a case break," the dark haired boy speaks in a daze, reciting words from memory.

Falcon boy Shun and the girl wash white under their dirty skin, their eyes rounding in horror. "Aunt Chisako," the girl breaths. "...Uncle Takumi…" Her voice cracks, face twisting in grief.

Through her nose Rio takes a long breath. "You know where it is then. Take your time to check the camp. Find people you know, see who survived and is already here. Rest, gather some strength. Just inform the team at the entrance of your names and destination when you go. Dismissed."

They trudge out, another shock putting them back into the state of blankness they arrived in.

Durbe enters after they left to find her slumped in a folding chair, head resting in her palms, fingers digging into her hair. "Rio -" Distantly she senses his pause, the hesitation, but then he approaches her, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing tightly. "You did well. You can do this. I believe in you. You're not alone." It's the only comfort he can give. The only comfort Rio allows herself.

A bone deep tiredness sucks on her energy, but it's nothing against the ache in her chest. She thought they were _done_ with all this. At least on this scale.

Instead she finds herself as the head of a fledgling gathering of survivors of a genocidal strike that will likely have to grow into a combat capable organization. Deprived of almost all her friends, her dearest brother lost, no hope and no reason to grasp on to in this madness she _must_ keep going or the place she and her friends called home and fought for will disappear even in memory.

* * *

TBC

 _The woman with them last chapter was indeed Kotori. Yes I know that Kotori doesn't duel in the anime. Except that one time where she was possessed. But I'm assuming here that over the years she will at least have built a deck of her own, even if she doesn't duel regularly or all that often. The reason she still has a Number despite her lack of skill as a duelist is because a) the Numbers scattering this time around have a different intent (or, you know, were scattered with purpose in the first place and not on accident), b) because she is familiar to them, c) because she is one of Yuuma's dear friends and he wanted to protect her in any way possible and the best way to do that was give her a Number, d) she has a strong heart and spirit and soul._

 _After this chapter I think we see yet again why the genre is supernatural. I'm pushing and bending the tools given in the anime(s) to the limit and interpret the implications. What Rio explained here is how it will later come to be that a task force of Academia meets the fate that we learn about in Barret's flashback; that one where they run into a trap without a duel being in action._

 _Rio is also pretty much worn down and as much at the edge of a mental breakdown as anyone else, but she's done stuff like this before and life went on and got better even. She can draw on that to keep going. Also, she's the type of person who deals with stuff by not dealing with it, so everything she doesn't want to think about (her brother, her friends) gets put to the side to be dealt with (preferably) never (by keeping herself up to the neck in other stuff)._

 _And also, yes Judai is indeed freed of suspicion, at least as far as the commanding figures of the still forming Resistance are concerned. Rio put him under a truth spell, and he did everything they asked for before the Invasion, provided all the information he had. And that helped, despite what it looks like at the moment. So as far as they are concerned, he's_ not _implicated._


	24. II-II: Life's worth too much

Part II-II

* * *

Life's worth too much

* * *

"No...no. I think...I'll stay here, Ruri. I...can do more here."

Ruri falters. "Oh." She bits the inside of her cheek. "Okay. Then..."

Sayaka has tears in her eyes, hands wringing in her lap as they talk quietly in one of the many underground changing rooms of the stadium. They slept in this place, on the hard floor without even a blanket. But now her brother and the boys have already left, looking for the place they can get food here while Ruri stayed behind to talk to Sayaka. They haven't had a chance to talk yet since (yesterday? It can't be. Wasn't it early morning when they went collapsed in this room?) they'd been searching and asking around for people they knew.

But now that they've had time and Ruri told Sayaka what Rio-san had asked them to do, that they planned to do so ( _AuntandUncleYuto's_ parents _ **please**_ ) she'd thought _don'tthinkdon'tthinkdon'tthink_ Sayaka would come with them.

"Kotori and I, we helped with the children. I think I…can do that better. If...I mean, if we go outside…there might be. We might have to fight, don't we?"

Blood turning to ice in her veins, Ruri's mind whitens out for a moment. Waking up, in this place, scraped all over and school uniforms smelling of smoke it would have been impossible to not remember immediately, even if her fitful sleep had not been haunted by fire and laughter.

 _Howcanshefunctiongetupbreatheatwheneverythingis_ _ **gone.**_

(Ruri isn't sure she slept at all or if she just closed her eyes and the nightmare played against the back of her lids like an inescapable horror movie. It's the same very time she blinks.)

Ruri needs to _do_ something.

Run, work herself to the bone, feel useful. Like this isn't the end. Focus on something so she can block out everything else.

The light is very dim, only able to enter the room through a cellar window. They don't have electricity anymore beyond emergency lights and those are barely enough to find their way in the corridor.

Ruri is unable to say anything. Blood is pounding in her ears.

Sayaka grasps her hands, squeezing tightly. "Don't go, Ruri. It's too dangerous. Please."

Bile gathers in her throat. Ruri is terrified. She can't go out there. See how Heartland's cruched-like-a-toy appearance.

She can't not go. Yuto will go.

Yuto's parents, the people who have taken her in and cared for her and saved her and her brother's lives and all but adopted her (however little they may have seen them during the day) might still be out there. Aunt Chisako and Uncle Takumi aren't duelists. They haven't dueled in years.

If they are still out there, they've got to go save them.

"I….We'll….be careful."

A sob wrecks Sayaka's body and runs from the room. Ruri stands, dazed and alone in grayness.

 _Don'tthinkdon'tthinkdon'tthink._

Her feet carry without direction through the stadium's underground until she just happens to come across the stairs leading to the court. The sight of walking onto this stage that every duelist dreams of is nothing like in films. There is no spotlight and no cheering crowd greeting the one ascending the stairs.

Instead a man with hunched shoulders and white bandages wrapped around his head stumbles down the stairs she walks up and she emerges not to packed stands but to a mass of tents, stands distributing food or clothes (people lined in long queues in front of them). Children and adults alike with haunted eyes asking, asking, searching for people with familiar faces.

The duelists, Ruri finds, are easy to pick out. They have duel disks on their wrists, purpose in their steps and refusal to break in their eyes. She doesn't feel like them.

The Shun-nii-san and the other aren't at any stands Ruri can see. Her feet carry her onward as her hands check her D-pad, her duel disk. She doesn't find them at any of the booths with food. Her hands start to tremble and the humans start closing in, the floor suddenly swaying. Did they leave without her? Did they leave her behind?

No. No. No, that's irrational. They wouldn't. She's just panicking, and that makes her think things.

Throat closing, still Ruri all but runs in the direction of the stadium's entrance. It's only when she comes in sight of it and sees the duelist checking who comes and goes that she remembers. Someone told them last night (morning): if they wanted to go out, they should pick up a cloak and a piece of fabric to tie over their mouth and nose, something to protect their eyes if possible because Heartland burns and smoke is more dangerous than the flames itself.

She must have overlooked them. If they wear cloaks already and maybe something in the face she just didn't see them. Ruri turns back into the masses.

It's almost a bit like a festival – the many people, the booths (tables, spots on the floor, benches) with different products to sell (give out and count on everyone's goodwill that no one takes more than what they need). The smell of fire even. But one look at people's faces reveals the illusion for the mockery it is.

Taking out her D-gazer, she tries to make a call but it doesn't connect. The display flashes, warning her that she doesn't have connection. Not even a single bar.

Ice crawls up her spine. Of course they don't have radio anymore. Or any wireless form of communication, she bets.

A hand closes on her elbow. "Hey, aren't you Miss Kurosaki?"

Ruri turns. And feels like caught in a dream. "Dennis…? Is that you…?"

The boy who gifted Ruri with her first time participating in an Action Duel what feels like a lifetime ago lights up with relief. "It _is_ you! Thank Goodness!"

Her lips twitch in a reflexive smile even though it feels like paper. Impulsively, she hugs him, just to make sure he's real. He fumbles for a moment before awkwardly patting her back. "I'm glad you're safe too," she says as she relinquishes her grip, her smile feeling a bit more real.

He rubs his head abashed, the motion so simple and unburdened that – for an instant - she feels like the nightmare didn't happen. Reality however doesn't let her escape, the dark sky pressing down on them so heavily the stadium's stand's artfully sloped roof has clouds curl around the tips. Even Dennis' colorful red hair and clothes are dusted gray. Her smile slides off with a vaguely sick feeling in her throat. "Say, have you seen Judai or Yuto? They were the boys with me when…when you picked me to duel." Dueled, and had so much fun. Everyone who watched had smiled, she thinks and her heart aches with the feeling.

"Hmmm," Dennis rubs his chin in thought, so much more expressive than all of her boys put together in the twenty four hours. "No, I don't think so." Hesitating, he looks at her with concealed concern. "Do you...erm, I mean to say, have you seen them yet? Here. At the camp, I mean?"

"We were just together. They went to get some food, but I must have missed them." Helplessly, she looks around faceless strangers passing them left and right. No glimpse of yellow eyes, dark spiked hair or ash-grayed brown hair. Her stomach knots. Where are they?

"I see," Dennis breath a sigh of relief for her. "That's good to know. Do you want me to help looking?"

Ruri swallows. She's stupid to feel like this. They must be around here somewhere. Looking for her in the same way she looks for them. But she's terrified. "...if it's not a bother."

Dennis' expression becomes serious. "It's not. Making people smile is my job as a professional entertainer. Even if it's just by looking for people, I don't underestimate the value of a smile."

"Thank you, Dennis." At the realization that there is still _something left of Heartland's spirit_ makes tears sting her eyes but she chokes them down. Together, they walk through the camp, asking if people have seen her friends. To her relief she's told by a middle aged man stitching handkerchiefs together into what looks like a towel that a there were a couple boys asking him after her not so long ago. He says he saw one of them heading underground and the other two towards the entrance.

"Whew, thank god," Dennis breaths. "Good for you. Let's go find your knights in shining armor, then." Hands in his pockets, he walks at her side a reassuring presence.

"Thank you," Ruri tells the man, and then repeats it to Dennis, hands clenching in front of her. "For helping me look. We plan on going into the...into the city now, but maybe I can repay you later..."

For an instant a complicated expression flashes over Dennis' face. It's gone so fast, she's sure she must have imagined it because when she look again, she only sees the strained smile he kept up the entire time. "Into the city?" he frowns deeply as the people start to thin out and Ruri stretches her neck, hoping to finally glimpse familiar figures, but it's for naught. She's too short to even look over most people's shoulders. That the air is fogged with thin mist that doesn't smell wet and that she doesn't think about. "...why? Isn't it terribly dangerous? I heard...well. Everyone heard that buildings started to collapse in on themselves..."

Ruri hadn't heard. "...that's all the more reason to go. People will get hurt. We need things to treat them with." Suggesting that he could come with them lies on the tip of her tongue, but Sayaka's refusal still echoes in her ears. It's wrong of Ruri to want people to get in danger just so that she can keep them near her. _Wrong._

(More importantly, if Dennis is in the camp maybe he can manage to make everyone remember that _this_ isn't...the end. Isn't _them_. That destruction _isn't_ what duels are for.)

(Don't think about the cards. Like Duel Monsters but with people on them. _Don't think_.)

The people thin out even more and she can see the gate now. There are more people in cloaks there now than the last time and her heart leaps, latching onto the new ones.

"Oh hey, isn't that them?" Dennis suddenly asks, pointing in a different direction. Ruri follows his gaze to two older teenagers, broken spirits as they sit against the rim of the field, bowls of soup in their hands and heads put together in a low whisper.

"Ruri!" Yuto.

His voice snaps her attention to the figures at the entrance. Judai and Yuto. Tension falling visibly off Yuto's shoulders, Ruri indulges herself with another hug, clinging to their school uniform's vest. "Sorry," Yuto whispers almost inaudibly into her hair, sounding as scared as Ruri felt. " _Ruri."_

Something clogs her throat. If only she could stand hugging Yuto forever, nothing else existing, maybe this nightmare would end.

"…let's not do that again," says Judai's voice, sounding almost as though he tried to crack a dry joke but mostly coming across serious and weary. "...if we can't call each other, we'll have to think of something else."

It's silly. They knew they were all in the camp. Ruri knew they wouldn't just have left her behind. But fear isn't reasonable. Untangling from Yuto, Ruri accepts the thin cloak of red fabric Judai hands her (though not before getting a hug from him). As she swings it over her shoulders she notices the seams crisscrossing it. A second look makes her guess her cloak used to be a pair of skirts, now quickly re-purposed into something more practical.

"Here." With deft fingers he slips a pair of cheap plastic glasses on her head while she tries to make sure the cloak doesn't slip. They distort her vision a bit. "Against the smoke," he says and wears a similar pair. As does Yuto, his a bright neon green. "Though they said we just have to use our sleeves or something to protect our lungs."

Ruri nods her understanding. "Where's Shun?"

"Looking for you in the place we slept," stats Yuto, crossing his arms, not voicing _wherever that may be_. Ruri almost giggles because it's good to know that she wasn't the only one who felt like a zombie. But she can't, because it's not funny at all.

Strangely, she still feels better though. Nothing changed, but somehow the world doesn't seem as dark anymore.

Maybe they can manage after all.

Dennis smiles weirdly. "You sure look ready now. Like, All Adventure Gear Equipped, Let's Start The Quest."

Judai's mouth twitches. Ruri thinks he might have wanted to smile but couldn't. "You think if that if that's how we think about this it's gonna be easier or more difficult to deal with?"

'This'. The complete destruction of their hometown. The fact that it's _still burning_. That a city of millions has been reduced to hundreds. That they're about to head back into it, intent of picking the ruins apart for items they'll need to survive the coming day. That they're about to go out looking for their families.

(The orphanage isn't that much of a detour from the hospital. They _can_ do it.)

All of that reduced to one small, meaningless word. 'This'.

"It might bring you good luck, like heroes in books. But then again, heroes don't head on a quest knowing it's a quest, do they?" muses Dennis, also trying for a lighter mood.

Yuto's face stays frozen through the conversation, fists balled against the insides of his crossed arms. He stares at nothing, gaze sometimes jumping to Ruri, or Judai, or the field searching for Shun. Trying to make sure they don't disappear.

Such a stupid, stupid, silly fear. That she shares.

Ruri wishes she could tell her heart what to feel.

"But heroes always win," counters Judai like a fact, without any passion. Just kind of tired. "So that would be nice. And I should know. My deck is full of heroes." His fingers fiddle with his D-pad absently.

 _Even heroes can't win alone_ Ruri hears and remembers the movie the sentiment comes from. Sighing, Dennis runs a weary hand through his hair. "Everyone is a hero in their own way as well, right? I suppose I best look around for my part in the 'helping'." He waves as he turns from them, smiling over his shoulder and looking only at Ruri. "Watch out out there."

He just misses getting run over by Shun, whose stride is fast and aggressive until he catches Ruri standing with Judai and Yuto, faltering for a moment. Then, almost before she can blink, he sweeps her into a tight embrace. "Where were you?! We've been looking all over for you!"

Resting her head against his collarbone, she mumbles, "I was looking all over for you too." When she leans back enough to see his face, the same fear that she felt looks back at her. Her nose twitches and her mouth moves before she can think better of it. "Why do I smell bread?"

Shun's face cracks, a very big-brother smile chasing away the shadows. It lasts for maybe a second. "We went to get something to eat," he grumbled. "Why didn't you wait for us?"

Apparently she had overlooked that one of Shun's hands was occupied by a loaf of bread, sticky jam on it. Shun must have been careful that her hair didn't get stuck in it when they hugged. Ruri takes it, her stomach reminding her of hunger, the back of her throat rebelling at swallowing anything and threatening her with bile. Determinedly, Ruri ignores the latter.

After she finished, Judai picks up the empty bags at his feet and tosses each of them two to put into their pockets. "Good thing they weight nothing," he observes thoughtfully. Plastic bags, the name of the convenience store they came from printed in bold letters. "For now at least."

The team of duelists watching the entrance is somehow even more dirty than they are and seems to be similarly a group of long-time friends if a few years older. Hardness and grim determination makes their faces look like stone, but a young man with hair that might be a dirty blond and gray eyes nods at them. "Names? Destination?" He asks them, taking out a notepad and pen.

A weird sort of surrealism tingles in the back of Ruri's mind. Again. Were the young man behind a desk it would almost be like getting to an invite-only party.

Shun gives their names and the other nods.

"I'm Akira," he says. The D-pad on his arm is scratched, Ruri notices, as his eyes flicker over theirs. "There's been two others teams already back from the hospital. They said they didn't have to duel," he tells them, expression dark. "But when they tried to summon their monsters for help, they just phased through the objects like usual. That's why we've been thinking - if you don't have a Real Solid Vision D-pad, it might be that your cards aren't accepted as an opponent in a duel anymore."

 _But they worked yesterday!_ Ruri wants to say but bits her tongue as though Rio-san was suddenly standing behind her. _Real Solid Vision. Real Duel Monsters. Other Rules._

"But yesterday all monsters were real. New duel disks or no," says Judai, brows pulling together and Ruri wants to shake him. What is he doing?! Isn't he the one who provided fifty percent of the explanation for that?! Rio-san said _not_ to talk about that.

But his thoughtful expression stalls her. His thoughts always used to be obvious – it's what made him so easy to talk to back before they were friends. They aren't obvious now.

The same sort of face always accompanies his duels. When calculating odds. Predicting a move. Assessing an opponent.

Now that she thinks about it, Rio-san didn't explain why Duel Monsters were real... _then_. Even when people only had their AR monsters. Did they all suddenly connect to their cards that deeply? But Rio-san said it's difficult...

Akira just looks back tiredly. "I know. Or I wouldn't be here. But, just…." he sighs. "It's a thought, okay."

He speaks as though he's done this for years. Even though it can't have been that much more than twenty four hours ago that their world was still perfect. Ruri wonders, with a sick sort of marvel, how long him and his friends have been standing here.

No one came to wake Ruri and her friends so they slept as long as they wanted (just barely managed) to. Maybe not everyone was able to do that. Maybe others decided that rather than getting haunted by nightmares, they'd like to do something. Behind Akira, one of his friends looks dead on their feet and a second sits down against a wall even as she watches.

Maybe they nap here, switching off with their friends to _do_ something while at the same time facing sleep in only short bursts.

Ruri squeezes her brother's hand, more thankful than ever that he is here with her. "...we'll be careful," she promises again.

They nod in goodbye, Akira returns it, and with her brother at her side, her close friends around her, they leave the stadium to step back into the city.

* * *

Primary Target left the Hole.

Dennis leans back, disappearing completely from the sight of the entrance. His head coming to rest against the wall to the stands he sighs, eyes drifting to the white ceiling.

A smirking face flashes over it, magenta eyes sharp and demanding. Dennis' lips curve a bit bitterly, a bit wryly amused.

Well, nothing for it. Might as well get it over with.

 _Tracker on PT,_ he writes. And sends off. _Destination Sakura Central Hospital. Three collaterals._

* * *

TBC

 _As of now, the_ flashbacks we have of Heartland are no longer _necessarily_ accurate _. In Arc-V they did not have the whole experienced Zexal cast to take command and give them direction, which means that the Resistance we will get to know here, and the actions they take, are going to be different from what we can deduce from the flashbacks. I will still use them as information sources, but things that are confirmed to have happened one way_ **will not happen the same way** _now. Situations get influenced by people and environment, and people like Rio are the sort who make a big difference even when not continuously around. Let's also not forget that Judai is in close orbit._


	25. II-II: won't back down

Part II-II

* * *

won't back down

* * *

Heartland is a nightmare. Eyes stinging, wetness running down her cheeks from the acid bite of the air that the glasses can't shield her eyes from, Ruri struggles to not be crushed under the sight.

If she tried breathing without fabric pressed over her mouth, she'd end up coughing in a matter of moments. The smell of smoke is overwhelming and ash falls down like snow.

The stadium protected them from all of it, scaling the intensity down until they could block it out. Live in it.

Survive.

Outside of it, some buildings are still burning, even if the flames are nothing compared to yesterday. Smoke fogs the air so much, they notice the heat of a fire sooner than they see the light.

Sense of direction almost flees her tentative grasp as soon as the stadium disappears, leaving them seemingly alone in the world. Completely isolated. Like they are the only people in the entire world.

It's dead silent except for the crackling and pooping of flames that burn near silently like a camping fire. Once, they come across a two still living people, on death's door from shock and hopelessness and panic alone. The only thing they can do is direct them towards the stadium and hope they make it.

Ruri can't process that this is the same city she grew up in. It feels more like they were dropped into the apocalypse.

Duel Academia. Judai's duel school. The one that taught him Fusion. In a different _dimension._

Rio-san. Her brother, Kamishiro Ryoga. Tenjo Kaito. Tsukumo Yuuma, the undefeated Duel Champion.

They _knew._

They tried, and _failed_ to stop this.

(She's aware of her deck in a way she wasn't before. Like something is watching her, like warm sunlight, like resolute strength. And amongst it, a _Number_.)

The road is blocked, forcing them to climb over a mountain of rubble. Misstepping, Yuto almost set off an avalanche that buries them under tons of stone.

With a heavy gulp Ruri stares at the pile at the foot of the mountain that would have killed them. By the time she has stable ground under her feet again, her bare legs are scraped all over (her school uniform has to go), scratches from sharp edges line her palms, she is trembling from nerves and they lost more than two hours.

Wordlessly, they refuse to acknowledge the grief they can see in each other.

They just have to keep going.

Make it to the hospital.

Get Yuto's parents.

Don'tthinkdon'tthinkdon'think _Don'tthinkaboutmore_.

More than once they have to backtrack to avoid fires or rubble they don't want to chance climbing over again. When the hospital finally appears before they eyes, it's not a safe heaven. Not a place they can recover from the exhausting, long trip. Not the place of their memories. Not even a ruin of it despite still standing.

The building itself may not have been hit by a blast, but the parking space in front of it was. Carters riddle craters and cars strew the edges of them. Countless people in and around a hospital - they would have tired to evacuate. There's not a trace of anyone.

Is this the place where Shun and her spend weeks recovering from the worst day in her life? Where the nurses sat with them in the garden and played a round of Duel Monsters? Where Uncle Takumi and Aunt Chiko left their office open for them for whenever they needed to see them?

Yuto threw up first. Ruri doesn't until they step inside.

Inside it's even worse. The hospital burned out, Rio-san said.

(Academia marching through the corridors and turning doctors, nurses and patients to cards.)

It burned out. Patients not able to run, sprinklers not enough, nowhere to evacuate to. It almost makes her hope that everyone was turned into cards, so that they wouldn't have to die painfully.

If they searched every room, would they find some bedframes still carrying their occupants as blackened, shriveled corpses?

Rage ignites in Shun like hellfire while while Judai's eyes glaze over the bare soot covered walls as though he doesn't even see it.

At one point Ruri must have fainted because from one moment to the next she's lying on the ground, alone except for Yuto who has collapsed against a blackened wall to put his head between his legs, shivering all over.

Even gathering all her strength, all Ruri manages is to pull herself up next to him and slump against him.

The room they are in might have been a visitor bathroom once, going by the tiles, but the ceiling came down on half of it. Sinks line the wall over their heads. A broken window blows in smoky air. She just sits there, feels Yuto's body heat and hears his unsteady breath and nothing else. There is not a thought in her mind.

"Let's see, you are Kurosaki Ruri. Hmmm, yes you must be." Ruri hardly even flinches at the unfamiliar slightly muffled voice, only just manages to lift her cheek from Yuto's shoulder. Yuto jolts as though stuck, though, head snapping up to stare at the figure in the doorway. Dark cloak, hood pulled low in the face, fabric hugging the visible part of his face snugly in protection against the air, the person studies something on the display of their duel disk. _Duel disk_. Not D-pad model. Dread widens her eyes.

Yuto jerks to his feet with a growl. "Who the hell are you?"

(Her bracelet catches the light weirdly, opal shining.)

The stranger doesn't even pay him the faintest flicker of attention. "Now, girl, let's go. The Professor is waiting." Stepping into the bathroom, his focus on her is -

-Ruri scrambles up and finds herself pressed with her back against the wall furthest from the man before she even realizes.

He keeps approaching, light on his feet. His every step rattles Ruri down to her bones and her vision tunnels. Time almost seems to slow, but it doesn't slow the cold burning aura. It's hunger wants to tear her limb from limb and _laugh while she suffers_ -

As suddenly as the sensation came, it's over, Yuto's back in front of her and shielding Ruri from the _eye of the demon -_

The steps that thundered so loudly in Ruri's ears halt. "You. Who are you? ...no, it doesn't matter. Get out of my way." Yuto's stance hardens. Ruri finds her fingers curling into the fabric of his cloak, suddenly terrified for _him_.

"What do you want with Ruri?!" Yuto demands, arm flowing in front of him to activate his duel disk. "Leave us alone!"

"…duel?" The Academia soldier sniffs haughtily, entirely unaffected. "Well, I suppose I don't mind. It's not like there's any way to run. But you had better make it worth my time."

Yuto doesn't say anything, but Ruri can feel his hackles rise.

(Her bracelet grows warm. She doesn't notice.)

Forcing dread and fear and all into the corner of her mind she shoves everything in to keep functioning, she lets go of Yuto.

To protect him, she _can't_ be afraid.

Ruri steps up next to her dear friend, activating her own duel disk.

"Hoh?" The face is concealed, but Ruri can feel the slow smile that spreads over their assailant's face by the chill running up her spine. "Well, this might be interesting. Do entertain me please, I get so little to have real fun with."

Tremble in her hand as she draws her five cards, Yuto a steady, warm ( _growingcolder)_ presence at her side, she can only hope her brother and Judai come back soon -

An explosion booms through the air and the no-longer-stable floor shakes.

"Oh, my, looks like you aren't the only ones with fighting spirit. For all the good that it'll do you. Or them," says the monster, turning his head in the direction the shock originated from with mild interest. "That was the last of them, I suppose…."

* * *

TBC

 _I was a bit bothered in the Arc-V anime by the fact that it looked like only Yuzu's bracelet had any power. There are some explanations about that flying around in the fandom, but I'm making up my own. I think that all of the bracelets had some power or another, but that only Yuzu's had the ability to forcefully separate the boys via teleportation and was thus the most flashy one. Ruri's we'll get a taste of in the next chapter. It'll be a long one again._


	26. II-II: no-one can say what can

Part II-II

warning: more killing in self-defense more explicit than before at the hands of minors. general fighting-for-survival violence

* * *

no-one can say what can be done

* * *

Vacuum sealed chambers have heavy doors and though they managed to move the debris blocking it away, the opening mechanism is jammed, forcing them to open it with...more creative means. As soon as they have a slit, they squeeze through.

Judai flicks his D-pad on and uses it as a flashlight against the complete darkness inside.

It reveals rows and rows of shelves, some toppled over and the contents spilled across the floor. Protected from the heat of fire, puddles of liquid or powder reflect the light.

After activating the same function on his pad, Shun mutters, "shut yours off. The Real Solid Vision disk have self-regenerating battery, it's better we use mine."

Wordlessly, two light-sources go down to one. "...monsters getting real enough in battle to fight or not, we'll need to get more new-style duel disks. Real Solid Vision disks weren't on the open market yet…" Judai says, tone considering.

Shun moves the light from one row to another, eyes glancing over the names of the drugs without any comprehension. Yuto might know what some of these are for, but Shun won't make Yuto face another second in this building if he can help it. Coming here was a mistake.

He decides to just take as many as he can fit into their bags. "I thought you were able to materialize monsters without Real Solid Vision." It came up when a scaled and clawed hand _punched through the door's solid steel lock_ before Shun could even think of Duel Monsters as an option.

He senses Judai shoving bottles into his own bags much in the same manner as him. "Not for an entire duel, I'd pass out from exhaustion three turns in. ...When I'm older maybe."

…"Can you learn how to materialize like that or is it just you?" Shun's duel disk is a brand new model, two weeks old at most and a reward for his excellent results in an inter-duel school ranking tournament. An exclusive new type that wasn't to hit the market for another month yet. But he's learned now rather thoroughly that his life depends on his duels and he'd rather not be dependent on technology if he can help it.

Judai's movements pause for a moment, then continue on in the same pattern. The plastic bag crinkles loudly, mixed with the clatter of glass. "You already do it a bit subconsciously. Have been for a while. The Raid Raptors – I guess the best way to say it is that they've taken a liking to you. That's why you've got yellow eyes now. Maybe you can't call then without a duel disk yet, but if your duel disk had still made intangible holograms in… _in the battle_ , they would have become physical for you."

Shun doesn't bat an eye – it's not like things like his eye-color, magic-like laws of nature actually existing, or his Raid Raptors having a mind and intelligence of their own is a _concern._ It stopped mattering the moment Heartland was attacked. All Shun cares about is how he can use what he has available, and to learn how to _fast_. "They did that for everyone else anyway." Who fought. Judai aside, Shun doubts that the toy-soldier man who ended that battle that Shun can hardly recall had a Real Solid Vision Duel disk. He wasn't a duelist and what use would a not-duelist have for real monster summons?

"...Yeah, and Academia sure fumbled the draw with that one. Bet they didn't expect that." He sounds cheerfully satisfied with that, almost deceptively normal except for the dark undertone. "But you heard what Akira said – the effect doesn't hold. As I understand it, basically, every world has a balance. Or so Yubel says. And when Academia... _attacked_ , they took the metaphysical equivalence of a sledge hammer to that balance. Everything happened too suddenly. Too much at once. So much energy in so many duels everywhere, too many dead... _that's_ what made every card real. Like a giant field spell. Or a system overload or something. But the world gets its balance back, so the effect leaves. _"_

Shun turns to stare at Judai's dimly lit face. "Is there a way we can keep it? If Academia comes back, we'll need to be able to fight." And thanks to that 'field spell' they don't know yet it AR duel disks and monsters are accepted as opponents.

Weighting two bottles in his hands, Judai's lips press together. "...I don't really know. I think it depends on every individual. ...But the connection you need with just one monster to be able to materialize it...it's not something just everyone can achieve. The better bet would be to make _sure_ our normal duel disks can be used to fight back. And if not get as many new models as possible. If we can provide a real body for spirits, they can do stuff outside of duels as well, so that's better anyway."

Like doing chores or going shopping. The memory of that afternoon is painful. "That's what Rio wanted to know? If Academia knew to use that?" Shun demands to know, eyebrows low. "Is that part of those 'Other Rules' she mentioned? I thought those only went for duels?"

Judai shrugs and gives him a half smile as he puts the two bottles in a new bag. "How do you define a duel? Technically you could say we're in a duel right now. The people of this dimension against the people of the other. More importantly, though, spirits are people too. If they have a body, they can make their own decisions just like everyone else. With Real Solid Vision we can give them a body. Academia hasn't got any duel spirits between them, so they don't even know that and only manage to put the faintest bit of life in _any_ of those summons. Those monsters don't have anything close to a mind. At least the Antique Gear decks don't," he says flatly.

Yet those monsters are still good enough to destroy _everything_. Even though they are nothing, just empty puppets, they are powerful enough to blow their city to pieces. Shun feeds his rage at the injustice to the pool of fury inside him.

"Rio knows all that?"

Judai nods. "Seems that way."

She really does know what she's doing, doesn't she? It if were Shun in her place...he's still struggling to apply Duel Monsters to the world at large and not duels only. He couldn't build a strategy with that. Yet. But he's willing to learn. Anything, if it means he can protect Ruri, and his friends, and survive.

But nothing more.

Anything that's too metaphysical for even _that-was-Yubel-she-lives-in-my-head-so-I-don't-need-to-summon-her-to-summon-her_ Judai to grasp Shun decides he doesn't want to have anything to do with. "...I can't believe _you_ of all people know stuff like that." Judai doesn't deal with responsibility well – his favored approach to it is pretend it doesn't exist. ...On the other hand, putting the gifts that allowed Judai to know important stuff like that in the hands on anyone else... "Whatever is in charge of fate must have been very shrewed."

...and if he follows that train of thought for too long, Shun will start to feel even more angry. Fate was never a notion he liked, and now...

(Especially now. If there is some such thing as fate that decided that their home had to be destroyed Shun will not rest until he dismantled _the entire damn concep_ t.)

Judai's sigh is pronounced. "There is no such things as fate. Or at least that sort of fate. There isn't some sort of supercomputer that micromanages everything." Pause, as if listening to something. "...I didn't actually know that before. Huh. Thank the gods," Judai mutters. Then his tone changes again and he continues translating from a voice only he can hear. "In terms of 'fate' what there is, is potential. If you give a bridge-builder the tools to build a bridge, it's not fate that builts the bridge. It's the bridge-builder. Fate just gave him the option. Or something like that. Everyone is a bridge-builder. But not everyone has the power to build really, really big bridges. Also, I for example have the choice not to build a bridge, but I also have the power to decide what a bridge looks like. If it's good quality, if it's bad looking, if it falls apart if you try to cross it. Stuff like that. That's really all there is to fate." Judai pulls a face, grimace even more pronounced through the lack of good lighting. "If you want to know about the many, many different types of people with bigger-than-normal bridge-building power you should take notes. Also, I'll let Yubel explain it to you, because I'd...rather not know more."

"Thanks," says Shun flatly. "I get why Solid Vision holograms are loosing power and that we better try get more Real Solid Vision duel disks. So long as there's no script telling me how my life is going to go, I don't need to know more." Turning his mind back to salvaging medicine, Shun fills his first bag and crouches to tie a knot with the handles like he used to do with overstuffed shopping bags.

"Yeah, too bad that Yuto is one of the bigger bridge-builders, to-" Judai mutters, before snapping his mouth shut.

The expression on his face when Shun's head turns to stare, slowly, incredulously clearly says that he wishes he could take the words back. "...what," says Shun, utterly flat.

Judai winches.

Shun grits his teeth. He's got to be kidding. "What was that about my best friend. It sounded important." Shun doesn't want to know. His head fills like it's bursting with so much that he doesn't have time to process, he doesn't want anything _more_ on his plate. But...if Judai really did just imply something about _Yuto_ , about Shun's best friend, almost brother, then he doesn't freaking _care_ what his head can or can't deal with.

Uneasily meeting his eyes, Judai runs a hand through his hair, dislodging the glasses he'd pushed up. "...Yubel and me, we think, and we aren't really _sure_ , but we think Yuto is what is generally called a Trigger." He bites his lips. "In this situation that would be good for this world, cause if Academia triggered him then they'd bear the brunt of it, but….there's something really strange about him." Judai chews his lips and for the first time looks actually unsure. Dread slowly crawls up Shun's spine. Judai is not kidding. Not at all. Anything but. He's dead serious. This is a topic that _worries_ him. "If Yuto's a Trigger, then...something set him off a long time ago. A long, long time ago. Shun, Yuto isn't that old. And...and the other day. Yesterday, I mean. It was like something…was crawling up from deep inside him…that's not how Triggers work."

The walls want to close in on Shun, his vision tunnels. "And you didn't think that was important to mention before?" If _Judai_ looks worried about something supernatural, it's bad, and he didn't think to mention that?!

"Of course it's important!" Judai snaps back. "But I _just don't know_ what's with Yuto, and I really _should_ \- that's _bad_ , Shun! You have no idea how bad. _How am I supposed to tell Yuto that_?!"

Shun whirls and punches the wall. Skin on his knuckles breaks, pain pulsing with every heartbeat. "What the hell even is this - this Trigger thing? What does it mean for mean for Yuto that he isn't?"

For a long moment silence reigns. Shun wonders if Judai has to confer with the _voice in his head_. Then, in a dead sort of tone, Judai explains. "They are what they sound like. If something pushed them too far, then they hit back with equivalent or greater force." He doesn't even have to mention what that would be - _should_ be - with Yuto. "But that's _not_ what happened. Not even close. And I – Shun, I managed to do something. Halt it a bit. But it was like a dam broke. I can't fix that. _Nothing_ can fix that. I...I haven't had time to think on it yet." No comment as to why not. "But I planned to talk to Yuto and see if we could try to figure something out. Dark Rebellion...it might want s _omething_ , but it surely doesn't want Yuto to suffer." The tone of Judai's voice doesn't inspire confidence. It sounds, in fact, more hopeless than anything.

Dark Rebellion. Of course. Shun isn't even surprised. Duels are death-or-life, invasion from a different dimension, one friend happens to be from that very dimension and has a voice capable of ripping steal with bare hands in his head, Duel Monsters is in actual fact more like a magic ritual than a game, and Yuto is screwed over by a fate. Why not. And Yuto's ace card is somehow involved.

Again, why not.

Forcing a breath out through his nose, fist smarting against the wall, Shun wrestles the rage in burning inside him down. Getting angry at Judai won't help. Anger won't help at all. Not here.

"Nothing's gonna happen to Yuto," Shun says, harshly glaring as though daring Judai (or the world, or _fate_ ) to protest. "If there's something that wants to, then it'll be _dealt with_." Shun is not gonna let anything happen to anyone he cares about _ever again_. He'll systematically dismantle every _thing_ that tries.

Judai just stares at him for a moment, then smiles weakly.

"Not so long as we have anything to say about it," Judai agrees. (And if that's lacking hope then it's not any different from what their lives are like now in general. It's not like they're gonna give up on those either.) "We should be able to deal with it. After all, I'm fine, and Rio-san is fine, why shouldn't Yuto end up okay? Everyone can just do their thing, and Yuto can build his own bridge." He nods, as if determined to convince himself. "But first we need to get these bags filled. I don't want to see Rio-san's face, frankly, if she finds out we didn't take everything we could," he continues, on a more upbeat note.

Just as well. Yuto and whatever is _just one more thing._ One more thing they can deal with. That they have to deal with, if they don't want to lose. Losing is not something they can afford anymore.

There's always a way.

Shun exhales, some tension bleeding out of him before grimacing in agreement and takes out his second bag while Judai starts on his third.

Kamishiro Rio is a legend with not quite as many official duels to her name as her brother, but what she lacks in public appearances she more than makes up for in fan-following. Shun has vivid memories of Ruri trying out a water-style deck back before she build to her own Lyrical Luscinia deck and the tears she shed when she finally admitted the archetype wasn't working for her and _she couldn't be like Rio now_. Kamishiro Rio was the cool, elegant, stylish duelist that proved girls could not only duel, they could stand at the top and _belong_ there. Young, successful, beautiful, the perfect lady.

Meeting her in person must have crushed whatever idol image Ruri held of her. The Rio-san Shun met is sharp like a dagger, cold like ice, and has an intimidating presence that he would not think misplaced in a King. Or a Queen. Not very much like the perfect lady at all.

Shun is glad for it. Rio-san doesn't seem like the type to let anything up to chance. Shun has no doubt that if Judai had said something she didn't like under that truth spell (or whatever), she'd have crushed him on the spot, witnesses or no. Possibly without a hair out of place.

Finally Shun finishes and ties the last bag close as well. Between two of them they now have eight bags of medicine that someone will hopefully know what to do with. "Done."

"We have a problem," Judai says, staring at their loot.

"What?" asks Shun, irritable.

"We can't carry all that back to Yuto and Ruri."

"So we'll go twice."

Judai's mouth twitches. "Right. Twice." Taking a deep breath, he takes two and shoves them ahead of him through the slit of the door. Shun, turning the light function of his D-pad off, follows.

In the corridor they are greeted by the stench of smoke that Shun hadn't noticed missing inside the chamber. Lighting is bad as ever and that makes the ruins of this formerly lively building even more sickening. Eerie. Shun is past the point where he'd be surprised if one of the corpses that surely lie somewhere were to suddenly sit up and wave at them.

It's only thanks to the broken windows everywhere that they can even breath inside here. The fire left the hospital charred if standing, in tones of black and gray inside out. It's a hospital so it burned out quickly.

No wonder, Shun thinks bitterly, angrily, that Yuto, who had spend much of his early childhood here, just _shut down_.

With Ruri passing out as well, finding a spot they could leave the two at had been a stroke of luck. They'll have to do better next time. Be more prepared.

One corridor and a corner later, Shun and Judai find themselves caught between walls on either side, two monsters ahead of them and two cutting off their retreat.

Neat clothes, gleaming helmet.

(Laughter, fire, screams.)

Vision darkening around the edges, Shun's hands tremble so hard he almost can't hit the activation button of his duel disk.

He isn't afraid. He's _not._

But his body is, and his mind is one endless scream of terror, an echo that won't be silenced.

* * *

"Obelisk Force," Judai mutters in a low voice, back to back with Shun. Shun can imagine his face – the narrowed eyes, the disgust in the curl of his lips, the raised duel disk. "The elite force, the graduates. It used to be pattern that they all have the same deck, the same combos. Methodical burn damage plus counter Fusion Summons. Play off each other."

"Whatever they are, they're going down. Duel!" Shun growls, and his duel disk sets to team battle. Without hesitation, he draws five cards, then a sixth to start his turn. Raid-Raptors and magic answer his call, and in a matter of moments Shun has his field filled. Were this Before, he'd leave it at that, giving himself a chance to feel his opponent out. That's a mistake that nearly killed him the last time – yesterday!

If he were to overlay, it'd leave Rise Falcon with a weak defense. Again, nothing that he wouldn't have been able to stomach before, but not now with four enemies at once. Adrenaline rushes through his body, setting his nerves on fire. Not afraid.

No matter how collected those bastards are, no matter how unconcerned or how confident. No matter how much they are drilled to _shut down_ and _destroy_ XYZ -

Shun will just have to be _better_.

(When Judai's turn comes they will stare. Their own Summoning turned against them so thoroughly.)

And Shun will make them _fear._

"I construct the overlay network with Vanishing Lanius and Fuzzy Lanius!" Two each. The bastards smirk. One is saying something, but Shun can't hear it over the summoning falling form his lips and the sudden, powerful rush of energy in his body. Like a static shock, except lingering. His Raid Raptors don't agree with his choice of monster, only grudgingly tolerate the interloper in their fold. In an instant, he understands and shares the dislike. It smarts his pride that he has this card, no matter how useful. That he tolerates it. It ruffles his birds' feathers that he chose to lean on _this_ , not them. "Number 26, Black Hawk."

The monster burns like a low heated fire under his skin. No- whatever this Number grasps in him is much, _much_ deeper. Shun gives it as much as it needs and _not one inch more_. Not of him. The Number doesn't like that. The Raid Raptors do.

The Number is unexpectedly small, fitting into the space between the walls as it emerges from the overlaying galaxies like a vengeful spirit. As tall as him, perhaps a bit bigger with metallic gleaming feathers and four wings. It's screech is nothing like the Raid Raptors' clear call, so high it's almost inaudible instead.

Shun isn't done. Smashing his last two remaining cards face down, he ends his turn. The so called Obelisk Force he shoots a fierce glare. Take that.

They don't look intimidated. They don't look like they care about what Shun does at all. Slight boredom in their posture, maybe.

Shun's lips curl back in a snarl.

(That's better than to let anxiety in his heart, than to let doubt gain a voice. Than to be afraid.)

The left one calls his turn, draws. The card he pulls has him smiling wickedly and he slaps it down. "I activate the magic card Polymerization to -"

Arm snapping out, Shun cuts in, "by detaching one Overlay Unit from Black Hawk I can select one Special Summoning and until the end of the turn, neither player can choose it to summon! I choose Fusion Summoning!"

Watching the smirk disappear makes some previously unknown sense sharpen. A weakness. Like a predator smelling blood.

"Nice," comes Judai's vindictively dark.

...but...blocking Fusion is not enough.

It's like Shun cutting out their Fusion did _nothing_. In the span of a few cards the damn bastard has three Antique Gear Hound Dogs on the field and burns through thousand eight hundred of Shun's lifepoints and directly attacks Judai.

Judai, who hasn't had his first turn yet, no cards played, never mind monsters to defend him.

The hound dogs leap past Black Hawk, the first runs Shun over with what feels like the weight of a car and bits down on Judai's shoulder with it's massive jaw. The others follow, like Judai is their chew toy.

Blood splatters before Shun's eyes, an agonized scream sounds, _but_.

Shun forces himself to blink the hallucination away.

Just a memory.

Judai's lifepoints drop indeed down to a thousand, but he doesn't scream. Standing braced against their weight and momentum, he instead glowers at the dogs with a dual-colored pair of eyes like he scraped them from the bottom of his shoe. The Hound Dogs wrench their heads like dogs pulling on a bone but only for a moment before the attack concludes and they bound back to their summoner. The bulk of all three crowds the corridor, like the guard dogs of hell.

Something thick and green winds around Judai's limbs protectively, looking like snakes until Shun sees the thorns. Whatever it is fades out a moment after, leaving Judai seemingly none the worse for wear. The alien eyes stay, staring without clear focus but obvious intent in the direction of the Obelisk.

Picking himself up with the wall as support, Shun isn't given a chance to feel relief before the second Obelisk Force, the second and last one blocking the way ahead of Shun, calls out his turn.

Shaking off tremors with sheer determination, Shun activates Black Hawk's effect before the enemy can even think about Fusion Summoning. Two Overlay Units down, two to go. Another two Obelisk Force before Judai's turn. Three, with this one.

Judai, who still can't defend himself, unfazed by physical attacks or no.

The second manages to summons only one Hound Dog, dealing effect damage to Shun and declaring a direct attack on Judai without hesitation. Shun manages to leap out of the way of the dog's charge this time -

Crack.

Rumble.

A shout of shock and surprise that is cut off with a gurgle. Sickening crunch.

The Hound Dog bursts into pixels a hair's breath away from touching Judai. Judai's face spasms once, then the strange eyes fade. A faint tremor of exhaustion coats his body in sweat.

Shun's head turns, heart pounding at what he is going to see.

The ceiling came down over the head of the soldier, flattening him beneath it. Shun can't tell at the distance if the man's still breathing. Shun doesn't care either. Vicious satisfaction curls in his gut, making him sneer when the first solider stares in shock next to him. But the solider only clicks his tongue in annoyance after a moment, not a shred of concern for his partner.

Sufficient physical injury means an end to the duel, lifepoints aside.

The tactic of the toy-soldier man that Shun remembers only in flickers.

(Judai _does_ learn fast when its about dueling.)

Once more, Shun picks himself up, struggling back into position. Now Judai only has to survive two more.

Two more.

With a thousand lifepoints. When the weakest monster of the enemy has a thousand attack points.

 _Two_ more.

"Shun," Judai whispers lowly. "You have an idea?"

Shun swallows, but adrenaline rushes too much to even tell anymore what he's feeling. "Can't you do that – whatever you did – again?"

"Too tiring like that," Judai replies quietly as the third recovers from the shock the ceiling save their little prey, and declares his turn. "But Yubel – we may have something. Trust me?"

Shun calls on Black Hawk to seal Fusion once more."What hell sorta question is that? _Now?_ "

"Then," intently, with the faintest tremble of fear under determination, "don't do _anything._ " The third Obelisk calls out his monster effect, cutting with a searing jet of fire that Judai manages to avoid Shun's life down to one thousand as well. But he too doesn't have the luck to draw the card that allowed the first one to do three Normal Summonings, meaning that he has to choose between who to target with an attack.

Shun, with his two reverses and a monster with higher attack, or bringing Judai's life down to zero.

"Antique Gear Hound Dog, finish that XYZ rat off!"

From his peripheral vision he catches motion and shoves himself against the wall to stay out of the way. If he hadn't, Judai and the Hound Dog would have toppled him over and buried him under them. Judai lands on his back, head thudding around the floor, the dog planting all fours around him and jaw closed on Judai's right arm.

Judai's stare of concentration becomes one of dazed shock, as soon as the dog retreats, apparently not even noticing that with this his lifepoints are down to zero.

Did -whatever - not work?

The Obelisk who called the attack chuckles while the one on Shun's side mutters derisively "finally, one down" when Judai doesn't get up, cloak spilled under him. He continues to stare dazedly at the ceiling.

 _Did it not work?_

Stepping around his monster, the Obelisk approaches Judai's downed form without a care in the world, a twisted smile on his lips while he readies his duel disk when he stands over him.

Laughter. Laughter. Laughter. _Laughterfireandscreams_ -

Something burst past his lips without permission and Shun only realizes its a shout when the Obelisk _starts to laugh_. Shun throws himself forward, but the Obelisk's finger already lowers and he won't make it-

-thorned whip lashes out, tearing the Obelisk's legs out from under him. The purple burst of light misses Judai completely, hitting the ceiling as the man topples.

It happens in a flash.

Judai _moves_ , negating the falling man's efforts to catch himself with his own weight. As he pulls back a fist to hit the man he straddles, Shun's eyes see double -

\- black scales so small they look like skin, corded muscles under it, clawed fingers curled in a-

\- fist smashes the man's chin up with so much force, the _crack_ echoes in the corridor.

Silence. Judai rolls of the limp man, trembling on all fours next to him, panting harshly. It. A body. No neck can bend at that angle.

The Hound Dog that finished Judai's lifepoints disappears. The body's duel disk emits a strange beeping sound, flashing, and the body disappears into particles.

Silence except for Judai's pants.

"….you little bastard!" The one who hadn't yet had a turn shouts. "How dare you little XYZ scum -!"

Not even able to stand yet from shaking so much, Judai shoves his previous five-card hand back into his deck, resets the duel disk and _enters the duel._ Intrusion penalty, that damn thing, sends sparks into Judai, but rule forced upon them by the Academia disks or no, Judai's disk isn't Real Solid Vision so the damage can't physically hurt him. Judai draws a new hand.

The one Obelisk that Shun can see, the one without his turn, without monsters on his field or cards to protect him goes from bristling anger to sudden apprehension. He takes a step back.

"If we are scum," Judai retorts harshly, struggling to his feet, "then what does that make you, who are about to lose to us?"

Intruders are immediately slotted for the next turn. If one of the original players hasn't had a turn yet then that's their problem.

Shun feels like he can breath again as he understands. That's right, isn't it, _losing_ a duel _isn't_ the end; getting _carded_ is. Everything up to that point is fair game, including physical attacks.

Judai slots a magic card onto his disk. His gaze is hard. "I activate Polymerization." The Obelisk Judai faces chokes on his spit. "From my hand, I fuse Elemental HEROs Burst Lady and Featherman. Feather in the wind, spark of the fame. Unite and become a roaring blaze - Hear my call Elemental HERO Flame Wingman!" Another magic card. Wildedge goes to the graveyard from the Extra Deck and Flame Wingman gains its effect.

"Battle!" Judai calls, not attacking the one opposite him, but the one Shun faces. Flame Wingman rushes past Shun, the corridor too narrow for it to fly. The three Hound Dogs get engulfed in a jet of red flame and explode. Their master shouts, not spared as more than three thousand points of damage are dealt to him at once.

The Obelisk curses, steam rising from him even as arms and uniform shielded him to the best of their abilities.

No monster and no cards left.

Though luck that he didn't take them seriously enough to set reverses Shun thinks spitefully.

"I'm not done," continues Judai ruthlessly, aggressively, slapping down another card. "De-Fusion, activate. Let's end this!" Bust Lady and Featherman reappear, seemingly staring darkly at their opponents. Featherman attacks the first man directly, ending him. Burst Lady splits from her partner and takes a chunk out of the last, remaining Obelisk soldier's life. Finally, setting one card, Judai ends his turn.

Seeing as the one opposite Shun is pierced by feathers all over and only just managed to move enough to press a button on his disk that has him burst into light, Shun turns, taking a place shoulder to shoulder with Judai as they face the last enemy.

Under the face mask, the man's mouth is twisted in anger. He draws. But he doesn't look so confident anymore. No partners, no Fusion for his turn, a good potion of his life already gone, Shun's turn next, and after that Judai again before he can even start to think about Fusion Summoning? It's as good as hopeless for him.

But.

No pity and no mercy.

The man's turn ends after having taken out one of Judai's HERO's with a magic-trap combo, but you don't have to be a professional to see that that was not what his deck was designed for. Fusion shut down, without numbers on their side, these so called _elite_ , these tormentors that _slaughtered them like sheep_ , are not even particularly skilled.

One on one, Heartland's residents would have stood a chance.

That they didn't have that chance makes a fire burn in a deep, dark part of Shun's mind burn at the injustice of it. No honor, no respect – to those bastards, the humans of this world aren't even people.

Shun ends the duel, his Raid Raptors screeching as they crowd the corridor. _No pity and no mercy_.

The end of the corridor blows up with the Raptors' strike, the floor trembling with the vibrations. He'd blasted the lifepoints into the negative thousands, and part of Shun hopes that pathetic, cowardly little Fusion user is gonna die from the damage. As the defeated soldiers are teleported out Shun will likely never know, but he likes to think at least that they _suffer_.

Exhaling forcefully, Shun checks the hill of debris that came down from the ceiling on top of the second one. There's no soldier buried underneath it. Must have been teleported put at some point as well.

Shun turns. "Judai."

"...huh?" Judai acknowledges him dazedly after a long moment, staring blankly at his hands before he tries to hide them in his cloak.

With narrowed eyes Shun inspects the younger boy. No physical injuries, not even at the right arm. His _whatever_ seems to protect him well. Good to know. But his pupils are blown wide and his hands have tremors that even the too long sleeves of his cloak can't hide. "We survived."

Judai makes a hysterical noise at the back of his throat and chokes down on it physically by biting his lip. "Yeah. Yes, we did. We're...we're okay. We're fine. I just defended myself, I know Yubel. It's just...a shock."

Obviously. Judai just killed one person with his bare hands (or a close approximation thereof), almost got killed via carding himself and possibly directly caused the death of a second person.

Shun maybe has blood on his hands as well, but he's fifteen compared to Judai's twelve, and he didn't do it with his bare hands.

Might make a difference in how they deal with it. Shun doesn't know. Doesn't care either. Point is, Judai's looking bad.

Deactivating his D-pad, Shun says, "Let's go back to Yuto and Ruri. What if there're more of those bastards here.."

They make it as far as to pick up the bags they had had to drop before an eerie cry pierces the air.

* * *

TBC

 _...yeah, it's violent, but I stand by it. Judai doesn't exactly have a choice about how he goes about_ surviving _. If he has to use tricks, you damn well bet he will. It's his_ life _at stake here. If you are bothered by it, I haven't planned such up close and personal violence again for foreseeable chapters._

 _Also, remember how I said I was going to stretch boundaries and limitations? Here we go. Losing a duel but_ not _turning into a card is one step on that ladder. (Duels are used to beat people down so that they can't run or defend themselves anymore, not because something magically ensures that zero liefpoints = becoming a card. With Dark Duels/Shadow Games that might be so, but Academia doesn't know stuff like that exists). Another one, one that I didn't make up, is Barret's flashback of Heartland that I spoke about in a previous AN already._

 _Yubel takes up guard to protect Judai from as much injury as she can. Does she care that she is not summoned in the duel? Obviously not. Besides, she's part of Judai so it's technically only Judai protecting himself. From a certain point of view. Unfortunately she can only guard him so long has he has the energy to sustain her protection. Too much and it cuts out or else Judai is going to face plant._

 _Since I couldn't find one that would fir Shun's deck, I made up Number 26: Black Hawk:_ _(1400/1000) Using one overlay unit it seals one Special Summoning Method for both players. Effect lasts until the End Phase. Can be used multiple times per turn._

 _Finally, one big thanks to_ Tintaglia, _whose supportive review really encouraged me! Thank you! It's indeed a harsh reality these poor children are living in and I wanted to show that, I wanted to address what choices they are forced to make, what living is like in this hell. The Shun and Yuto that we see in the anime are very obviously traumatized by what happened, and I didn't just want to gloss it over just to 'get on with the plot' on the basis of 'everyone is just turned into cards, it's not like they are dead, so it's not important'. For the survivors of the Invasion, the people Academia got are_ all _dead._


	27. II-II: these clouds rule my sky

Part II-II

* * *

these clouds rule my sky

* * *

Cheeks wet with tears of fear and panic, Ruri is dragging Yuto out of the room they left them in, struggling under the boy's weight. Both of their duel disks are activated.

"What happened?" Shun demands brusquely, duel disk out and ready and cards already in hand, looking for the one that did -

Dark Rebellion. The bathroom's ceiling broken in and shoved aside to make space for the dragon. _Dragons._

There is almost no space to breath in the bathroom, the dragons take up too much room. Shun struggles to think what it must have looked like when the dragons _weren't_ both slumped in a heap as though they had no energy left to stand. Ruri's Assembly Nightingale is hovering between Ruri and the dragons almost uncertainly.

Shun's disk shows no special effect in play that could explain this bizarre scene.

Ruri swipes determinedly her tears with the palm of her hand, "I don't know," her voice cracks. "This -this boy, he just came. He said the...some professor wanted to see me. He was just going to – and then Yuto challenged him to a duel," Judai scrambles to help her take Yuto's weight and set him down as she talks, while Shun still searches for a threat. Tremors shake her all over and her lip is bitten though. "And then -" her voice breaks completely into a sob, hands tightening her hold on Yuto desperately.

Something ugly festers in Shun's heart, his searching gaze finally finding the threat that reduced Ruri and Yuto to this.

Black cloak obscuring his body, purple duel disk, shaped Academia-style, face planted in the floor as though he just fell over.

Shun approaches cautiously, and when neither the dragon nor the duelist move, he toes the body cautiously. No reaction.

They don't have anything like handcuffs, or even a piece of rope. For a moment Shun contemplates even the lack of a knife, some part of him disgusted and horrifed that the thought even occurred to him.

"He seemed in so much pain," Ruri's voice continues from behind him, choked with tears. "And he _screamed_. Dark Rebellion stared to act strange and - It was so awful and then - then Yuto just _collapsed_. Him and that, that _monster_." She spits the last word with more loathing than Shun would have believed her capable of.

Judai mutters a low curse before asking with a tone caught between dread and urgency, "What happened then? Did he – did something happen to him? How did he stop?"

Shun flips the Academia solider over, listening with half an ear. The cloak parts enough to reveal clothes that don't fit any of the uniforms that Shun's seen yet, but that is undeniably Academia. Would destroying the duel disk take care of this problem for them or would it just make it worse?

"I – I don't know. There was this flash of light," Ruri hesitates, continuing her story. "I- I think it came from my bracelet."

Judai's replying silence is deafening and Shun feels his gaze torn away from the oddly familiar seeming half-covered face that a slipping hood revealed. Judai stares at Ruri with something like dawning shock. Shun's stomach bottoms out. "... _your_ bracelet…?"

Ruri nods, rubbing a hand over her face again. Lighter smudges of skin show where her tears cleaned her off dust and dirt, the price being puffed red eyes. "It just – _glowed_. All of a sudden. So bright I couldn't see anything and when it faded, Yuto was...and that guy too was..." She twists her bracelet around her wrist anxiously, and either it's a trick of Shun's eyes or it still glows faintly. Pulses, like a heartbeat.

"...it just did that…? Without you having any idea...and Yuto just…?" Judai whispers dazedly, horror dawning, "you didn't – you have _no idea_ …?" Dichromatic fall from Ruri to the bracelet she can't seem to stop touching, and whatever those eyes see makes Judai look sickened. "...I...can I look at it if for a moment, Ruri?"

Ruri stills.

Shun has only rarely seen her without that piece of jewelry, like when she just came from a bath or when going swimming, and he knows she wasn't allowed to wear it in gym at class. But it's…

Finger's trembling and slow, Ruri twists the bracelet over her hand, then almost can't seem to watch as she lets it go into Judai's hands, looking at Yuto's head resting in her lap instead.

The instant it stops touching Ruri's skin it stops glowing. Yuto jerks up, almost hitting his head on Ruri's chin. She yelps and falls back on her hands. Yuto's head whips around widely, confused, gaze stopping on Shun, no something behind him, and -

"Shun!"

Shun's feet are torn out from under him. He only just manages to catch himself on his hands, but before he can get up, something digs in his back and his arm is twisted behind him in a restraining grip. Shun shouts and struggles, but through the grip feels thin, it's strong.

Ruri, Yuto and Judai watch, dread rising on their expressions in slow motion.

The one holding Shun down speaks, breaking the spell-bound too-still quiet. "Well. How odd. I could have sworn there was just two of you here," the owner of the body pressing him down muses slowly with unmistakable malice despite the light tone. Every hair on Shun's body stands on end. "Are you, perhaps, trying to get in the way of my mission?"

The three of them scramble to their feet, not once taking their eyes off the boy on Shun's back, readying themselves for a fight. Shun tried twisting and almost pops his shoulder out for his efforts.

"Ah, ah, ah, don't even think about it. Some fun is all good and well, but I'm really not in the mood anymore." Weight shifts on Shun's back, and suddenly his vision is invaded by bright, purple light, so close that Shun can feel heat radiate from the disk. It's held to Shun's throat like a knife. Suddenly Shun wonders if the materialized disk could be used like that. "You, girl, get over here and maybe I'll spare this trash."

Shun stiffens.

Ruri's face turns waxen. Yuto's twists into a snarl and he takes a step forward -

"Don't move. Or rather: feel welcome to, but just so you know, I'm not squ...eamish," the voice trails off, confusion seeping into the malice, making the voice suddenly sound a lot younger. " _You_. Who are you. Why do you look like that?"

From his position Shun can't tell who is meant, his face half on the floor, but the way Ruri and Judai's eyes flicker to Yuto between them is telling. Yuto doesn't show a hint of understanding or caring. "Let Shun go," Yuto demands, tone tight with barely concealed fear. " _Let. Him._ _ **Go**_."

The voice chuckles. "I just might. If you're lucky. In exchange for the girl of course."

Ruri's gaze flickers down to meet Shun's and he sees something harden in her. "Don't you dare," Shun tries to shout, only just managing to grunt. "Ruri, don't you dare. Don't you dare let her! Yuto! Judai!"

Ruri shakes Judai's grip on her arm off, determined as much as terrified.

No.

No!

"Ruri." Yuto's eyes widen in slow motion.

She can't!

She takes a step past Yuto, ignoring both him and Judai, gaze fixed on the one on Shun's back -

Yuto's expression twitches, unrecognizable for an instant, and something behind Shun _moves._ Heavy, large, slithering, swishing of displaced air. Hot breeze that is a breath stirring up ash. Shun's eyes squeeze shut against the particles. Magnetically, he eventually tries to see again, but still can't look over his shoulder.

"Oh, Starve Venom. Finally awake. What happened to you?" The voice asks mildly curious. "Don't look at me like that, I didn't do anything, you know. But how about we just put an end to this now -"

Yuto sucks in a sharp breath - "Dark Rebellion!" The dragon answers with a roar that shakes the building.

"Don't -" the Academia boy starts to warn sharply.

Then, without reason, he falls dead silent.

The pit of dread in Shun's stomach grows leaden. Sweat breaks out all over his skin as the presence at his back becomes burning _cold_. Twisting as much as he can, his eyes pass over Yuto, and get stuck.

Yuto is his best friend since childhood, they've spend more time together than Shun spend with his own parents. Sleepovers happened more often than not. With Aunt Chisako and Uncle Takumi busy so often, Yuto was over so often, he might as well have been another sibling. He'd seen Yuto cry, get angry, be hopeless, irritated, confused, annoyed.

Not _once_ in his life did Shun see an expression like **that** on Yuto's face.

Yuto's eye-sockets are lit by an internal fire, blazing bright and _hellish_ , far more unsettling than any casual display of Judai's ever managed.

The two dragons that Shun can't see _growl_. The waves of power they emit nearly throw Judai and Ruri off their feet while leaving entirely Yuto untouched. The dragons rear up, tearing down pieces of the wall and ceiling, and suddenly Shun has to worry about getting crushed.

"I...will stop...you," Yuto growls, voice and tone pitched all wrong even as the choice of words is still him. "I won't let...you take...R...uri."

"Then, let's...settle...this," returns the one holding Shun down, sounding just as _wrong_. The grip he has on Shun's arm is so tight, it feels like it might snap his bone any minute. "I'll...destroy you."

"I'll end you. Destroy-"

Together, like one voice with two pitches: " **-everything**."

Yuto starts to move -

Judai suddenly unfreezes.

He _lunges_ , bracelet clattering on the floor as he tackles Yuto to the ground. His eyes, dual-colored again, shine orange and turquoise, powerful and like miniature suns as he shouts Yuto's name.

Yuto _screams_.

Raging, wildly and clawing at Judai, he trashes, trying to throw the other boy off, but Judai holds fast, face twisting in pain when Yuto's nails scrape along his skin or his fingers dig into Judai's arms.

Dark Rebellion _roars,_ sudden _rage_ choking the air like a physical weight.

The other dragon echoes it, just as enraged.

Ruri _screams_.

Shun's head aches, his vision swims and _doubles_. Like it splits in two.

A blast of lightning arches through the air, making all of Shun's hair stand on end and it strikes Judai, blasting him away from Yuto.

No, it doesn't.

But Shun saw the intention as clearly as though it happened. Double- _vision._ _Literally._

Before the bolt can hit Judai, a leathery wing catches it, sparks traveling uselessly over the suddenly appeared woman. Demon. Dragon.

Her eyes and a third between her brows glow the same all consuming color as Judai's do, and a fierce snarl is on her lips. As she throws an arm out, rose vines burst from the ground and wrap around Dark Rebellion.

Shun realizes he can see that and takes advantage of the space of motion, twisting until he throws the one on him off balance. Rolling, he manages to get to his knees, expecting that he'd have to defend himself against recapture immediately. He's wrong.

The – boy, Shun is sure, seeing the revealed upper half of that face awake and aware – is like Yuto, eyes alight and something ferocious and wild about him as he stares transfixed at Yuto. A hair rising chant falls from his lips. "Eradicate everything. Burn everything to ashes. _We_ – destroy – _will_ – you – _become_ – and – _one -_ everything _._ "

Judai shouts, but winds are tearing so harshly and everything still looks double layered, Shun can't see what's going on, barely even manages to hold onto his own mind in this whirl of power and madness.

Yuto is still screaming, fathomless fury radiating of him in a violent storm.

The Academia boy keeps repeating the same nonsense, chanting like possessed, the same aura rising from him. The dragon over his head is side by side with Dark Rebellion and together the two snap at the demonic woman, who refuses to budge an inch and thus leave Judai undefended. More thorned vines burst from the floor and form binding restraints around the second dragon as well, as though they could be wrestled down like misbehaving wild animals.

In the back of his mind, the very faintest of voices is what shoves him into motion: his Raid Raptors, chittering nervously.

Shun throws himself at the Academia boy, tackling him down. Grip on the boy's arms, it's like sticking his hand into a socket. Form fitting face mask still in place, the boy starts screaming now as well.

Distantly, Shun is aware of lighting arching outside the hospital and thunder booming so close the walls shake. Shun feels like he's looking through a tunnel. Caught in a nightmare. He feels disconnected from his body and the Raid Raptors' screeching ( _safety, protection, home-ground_ ) is far away.

Shun grits his teeth and tightens his grip. He won't let go. He won't. _Not ever_. He won't. He won't lose. He won't let this happen. He won't let Yuto-

A blinding light.

The smell of a fresh breeze. The sensation of a summer afternoon in the shade of a tree.

The light dims.

Utter silence.

Or at least sudden enough that is seems like it.

Blood rushes too loudly in Shun's ears to hear anything anyway. The feeling of been torn apart at the edge is gone, leaving his vision seeing one reality and one only. Panting, Shun stares down at the lax, unconscious body. Closed eyes, no glow. No monstrous strength hidden in weed like limbs.

Shun tumbles to the side, getting away as far as possible. His breath aches in his chest but he wrestles with himself until his body concedes to his will he manages to take stock of the situation.

The dragons – quiet and drowsy again.

Yuto, as dead to the world as the Academia one. Flat on his back and sprawled in the next room. At some point during his and Judai's fighting the wall must have given in.

Judai, only just letting go of Yuto suspiciously. When he looks up to meet Shun's gaze he looks worse than Shun feels and ten times more tired.

Demon lady: disappeared.

Last. Ruri. Holding her bracelet. Which still pulses. Knees given out under her, mouth parted and eyes round as she faces the disaster.

The entire corner of the hospital had its roof (and higher stories) blown away by the dragons' rage, making the way free for rain to pitter-patter on what remains of the bathroom's tiles. One drop hits Shun's cheek, cold and wet and grounding.

 _Thud._ Judai hits the floor, passed out, slumped next to Yuto.

* * *

TBC

 _Here we get a pretty look at the capabilities of Ruri's bracelet. If Yuzu's can teleport them, then Ruri's can_ shut them down _when they start to synchronize. And Judai, by wanting to inspect that bracelet, sure made things worse, didn't he?_

 _I'm sure some of you are puzzled about why Judai never noticed anything off with Ruri. That's mainly because next to Ruri there was always Yuto, and what's off with Yuto is a lot more attention grabbing than Ruri. Additionally, Ruri doesn't have a monster screaming about the injustice of it all. If Judai had investigated Ruri, he'd have found something. But why should he have? She looked like a perfectly normal human._

 _Yes, I realize that the Berserker state does not tend to cause pain in the anime, but there were times when Yuya was in pain because of it, mostly when he tired to fight in, and I'm taking that to mean that anything other than fighting taking actions that would lead them to unite is difficult for the Yu-boys. Also, to clarify, Yuto wasn't in pain all the time the whole time. They first time yes, that what Ruri described, which is the first time Yuto ever synchronized with any of his counterparts and I imagine the subconscious shock of that - a mind realizing_ oh shit that's me over there oh man how damn hurt am I?! _\- would tear into his psyche quite a bit, and while it doesn't hurt physically it's not nice dealing with mentally. Not that Yuto will have any recollection of it after - self-preservation and all that. Pain is just the first reaction; after that it's all rage and too much power and the whole freaking madness of being a_ soul split in four _that makes him want to destroy any and all things in any way possible even_ without _drawing on Zarc's issues. The Yu-boys don't have it easy._

 _Soon we will approach the end of this Arc and with that the end of my daily updates. Starting then it's no more new chapter until I have finished the next Arc. Who knows when that will be._


	28. II-II: the sound of love

Part II-II

* * *

the sound of love

* * *

Securing a safe location where they can drag Yuto and Judai to turns out to be easier said than done.

Truthfully, the last thing Ruri wants to do is spend another second in this building. They were discovered here once already and since they teleported out, there's no doubt that Academia knows of their location. But Shun and her can't carry both of the boys, so they can only hope that Academia doesn't think them worth of sending another team in.

As it was, it took everything they had just to move them to another room, just one corridor down. Fear keeps adrenaline going and adrenaline keeps them going.

Her body won't stop trembling as she looks Yuto over. Not afraid. Not of him. Not exactly.

Afraid, yes.

Carding her hand through his hair to search for wounds, she recalls the form of him. It was like watching a black hole swallow up everything that made Yuto Yuto, and _spit it out backwards_.

Whatever that was, it'll _take him away from her_ if she doesn't stop it.

If _they_ don't stop it.

Yuto has bruises and bumps, but no open wounds so she puts her eyes over to Judai. Somehow, he'd always projected an unflappable air. Like a train could hit him head on and he'd shrug it off. She gets where he came from now, seeing that Duel Spirit appear out of nothing and chain Dark Rebellion and that other dragon for him until neither could move.

That only makes seeing him like this more terrifiyng.

Her brother looks Judai over, and his results are a lot worse than Ruri's. So far there are three parallel bloody lines running from his cheekbones to the corner of his mouth, a bite mark in his hand just as bloody, five puncture wounds on each of his arms.

Ruri knows that if she were to check Yuto's fingernails, she'd find blood there. Nausea crawls up her throat and she clenches her fists to keep them from shaking more.

"We'll need to treat these," says Shun grimly. He'd carefully flipped Judai's hands over. The palms are inflamed like a bad burn while veins are standing out in black as though someone took a marker to them. Shun's own palms have their own beginnings of a burn, but not half as bad.

"How?" Ruri asks bleakly, staring at the wound. They don't even know what caused them. If it were only burns, then maybe, but -

-all that Ruri can think about, looking at those black lines, is hate, malice and destruction.

It came from _Yuto._

"...I don't know," admits Shun, and something like helplessness flickers through his eyes before he can hide it.

"...what about the medicine you gathered?" Or did they? Ruri hasn't actually seen any, but plastic bags had been the last thing on her mind.

"I don't know what the labels mean," her brother says reluctantly. "We could end up spraying acid on him instead of a disinfectant…"

Ruri says nothing. Her head is empty and dark and before long she finds her hand closing around Yuto's, squeezing his palm. It might only be her imagination, but it feels like he squeezes back. Her heart aches.

Yuto.

Tears leak out of the comer of her eyes and Ruri hastily swipes them. Gathering her legs under her, she says, "I'll have a look around. Maybe there's a first aid kit that survived somewhere."

"No," Shun says strongly. "We couldn't even do something about that guy." Because the duel disk took back, as soon as they managed to break the still-ongoing duel off and before they's managed to damage that duel disk. "There might come more any minute. We're _not_ splitting up again."

"All the more reason to hurry." Ruri is out what remains of this sickroom before her brother can do more than shout after her. Before she can look back at Yuto. Before her courage can crumble.

In the ghostly corridor it's easy to focus. Seeing the occasional sign of struggle carved in the walls doesn't hit her as hard anymore, because now she has seen something infinitely worse.

Office, she thinks. A doctor's or a nurse's. Aunt Chisako and Uncle Takumi had one too. She's been there before. She remembers sitting in it once when they were little, Yuto crying next to her and Aunt Chisako taking out a big kit just to put one small band-aid on Yuto's scraped knee and smiling kindly. Most importantly, she knows where they kept it.

She'll just have to go there and surely Aunt Chisako and Uncle Takumi's ghosts will let her find what she needs.

Their office isn't even that far away, just in the next wing of the building. So, keeping her steps as silent as possible, Ruri hurries through the skeleton of a building. Peeking around every corner before she takes it, Ruri makes it without trouble to the first floor room.

(She wonders, emptily, which if she passes the place the man and the woman that took her in and raised her for half a year took their last breath in. Wonders, emptily, if they were in the building, or if they were evacuating their patients outside and got caught there.)

Of the door only charred coals remain, and the inside was stripped to its bare bones by the flames. No desk remains, but the cabinets were of glass. The one Ruri remembers the kit to be in is toppled over, the metal back plate not allowing her to see if it hides her prize.

The cabinet is pretty large. One time and a half the span of her stretched arms and as high as the ceiling. In equal parts she feels discouraged and untouched by the hurdle of having to heave it away. After a moment of blank, emotionless staring, Ruri looks for something to use as leverage or something,

 _Please Aunt. Please Uncle._

Her eyes fall on the frame of what was once an office chair.

It might work.

Shoving and digging a metal foot under a corner, she manages to shove the whole cabinet to the center of the office, giving her more space to work with. Digging her fingers under the edge, she uses her legs to push the frame of a computer as a pillar under it. Now having enough space between the floor and the cabinet without having to hold it up herself, she slips her arms under it.

After what feels like hours of blindly feeling around, of having to change her pillar's position to allow her to search another place, of trying to peek under it with her D-pad, the tips of her fingers brush against something cool.

Ruri claws it out with her fingernails and sheer, stubborn will.

At the end, a box of metal, former white paint peeling, sits in her lap.

Her heart lodges her throat. Something so small after so much effort. Something so important. This will help Judai and hopefully Yuto too, surely. This little thing is a piece of hope.

They _must_ be alright. Ruri doesn't know how else she is supposed to survive.

Carrying the kit in her arms as though it's a most precious diamond, Ruri steps out of the office to make her way back.

Freezes.

Outside of the corridor, in the inner courtyard men in neat, white-blue uniforms stand, their gazes fixed ahead, backs straight. Ruri jerks back into the office, her feet carrying her three steps into it before she realizes that she has no escape. The office doesn't have a window.

She backs into it anyway, cradling the kit to her. Glass shards crunch under her shoes.

The boy from before watches her with inhumanly cold eyes, no hood hiding his upper face this time. He stands at the front of eight men, clearly the one in command. The half-face mask still protects his breathing from the harsh surroundings. (She'd considered, for a moment, wanting to know his face. Back upstairs. She decided against it.) All he has to show for the fierce struggle from before is a bruised cheek that doesn't look like it came from her brother.

Seemingly, they had waited for her to emerge. Even ten meters or so apart Ruri can see the cruel, cold delight the boy takes in her realizing her situation. Despite that, his face doesn't even twitch. Somehow that makes him seem even more dangerous than when he cornered her and Yuto in the bathroom.

Yuto, oh god, Yuto. Ruri can only pray that if the monster boy is awake that Yuto is too.

This time, the boy doesn't say anything. No taunts, no mockery. Just the stalk of a predator as he jumps through the row of busted windows into the corridor. At a flick of his hand, the soldiers spread in two directions. Not to corner her. This monster already has her, and they know it. Those eight are here to ensure that Ruri won't be saved. Again.

She puts the kit down, snatching something else up in exchange. "Wait!" She shouts at the soldiers and hates that her voice sounds so weak, anything but commanding. "Stop right now! If you don't -" She reveals the object in her hands.

The boy freezes in place, no longer approaching her, and snaps a command.

Ruri's stomach drops at the confirmation.

But this is good. This is hope. With this she can...

His eyes take in the shard of glass she holds to her own throat before leisurely trailing up to her eyes. "Well. What do you plan to do with that?"

Ruri swallows. "You need me. Alive." For some reason. In spite of the destruction they wrought on her homeland. Denying it would be silly at this point, and the boy just tips his head up, cold eyes glittering as if to say 'what about it'. She takes a deep breath and makes herself remember her brother. Yuto. Judai. Sayaka, back at camp. Dennis. Rio-san, who has everything in hand. There is hope. "If all of you promise to leave and not come back here, I'll come with you."

The boy studies her, annoyance coloring his tone. "...Fine then. I don't care about scum like that. I can always pay them back later. One XYZ bug or two, who cares?" He takes a step closer. Ruri flinches back and jabs the glass shard closer to her jugular.

He stops. Irritation narrows his eyes and it feels again like she is the sole focus of a large, monstrous predator. "What?"

"I said…," she licks her lips, "I'd come with you, not that I'd let you take me. And I need you to prove that you'll keep your word."

He blinks, even such a simple act threatening as he observes, "...you are getting _irritating_. How do you expect me to prove something like _that?_ "

"I don't," she croaks, mind racing. Her heart pounds.

There is something she has to protect at _all cost_.

She has no choice but to _give up_.

Once that decision is made, a blanket of fear lifts from her mind. It leaves her thoughts clear and determined. "…Those disks. Do they all teleport to the same location?"

Shifting his weight, resting a hand on a hip, the returns slowly, "what if they do?"

"Yes or no?" Puncturing her own neck is more difficult than she thought, but just the dip of her skin seems to be convincing enough for the boy to grit out a yes.

Okay. Okay. Fine. Good. "Then give me a duel disk," she states and is proud that this time her voice only shakes a bit.

The boy wavers, not expecting that. "What?"

Ruri stares at him defiantly. "Give me a duel disk. There are nine of you here. That means if eight of your aren't there when…." her voice falters, before continuing stronger. "When we get wherever, I'll..."

He doesn't need her to continue that, her threat obvious.

Ruri is _serious_ , she's _desperate_ , this is the only gamble she can make. A part of her is suddenly perversely grateful that she has this value so that she can make this bargain when just before she couldn't even face the thought enough to mention it to her brother. If they didn't want her so much, she'd end like the mothers pleading on their knees for their children to be spared.

The boy, the _monster_ , merely rolls his eyes like Ruri's _everything_ is nothing more than a chore to him. "Hey. One of you. I don't care who. Give the girl your duel disk."

The identically dressed men that Ruri can see through the doorway and the windows behind it trade glances. "But...Yuri-sama, if we do that, one of us has to be left behind," one voices hesitantly.

Clicking his tongue, he throws a look at them over his shoulder. "Do I look like I care?"

Pause. "The Professor-"

"The Professor will be very upset if he finds out that you Obelisk Force failed _yet again_ at providing sufficient back-up. _This_ girl is our Primary Target. Funny that you think he cares about _you._ " He muses coldly, seemingly amused at the protest.

Silence. Dead, and thick. Ruri can feel the dark gazes on the boy from his own troops just by standing in proximity. He doesn't seem to care.

"Fine then." He rolls his eyes. "I'll make a decision. You, first one to my right. Hand over your duel disk."

The one who's addressed Ruri can't see, she's backed too far into the office for that, but there is no doubt she will be getting a duel disk.

Duelists, soldiers.

Giving up their _weapon_.

Just to get Ruri.

(…maybe...)

A man steps into the room, approaching Ruri carefully. Visibly unwilling, he slides his duel disk across the floor for Ruri to pick it up. She does, never once letting the man or the boy out of her sight.

Nine of them. Leaving one behind that means eight she'll have to count. Or else.

One hand keeping her threat in place, she awkwardly fumbles the duel disk onto her right arm. Its braces closer around her wrist and it feels awkward, bulky, like a weight wanting to drag her into hell. All the while she is surprisingly aware of the boy, and the man, and the other soldiers watching her every move.

She can't operate it, not when she needs to keep the shard against her neck.

The boy huffs, unamused, and jerks his head. "Get over here, I'll input the order."

Ruri pushes out her jaw. "Not until the others are gone." Better if she can confirm all eight gone here than having to count them on the other side where it's arguable too late.

"...you are getting _seriously_ annoying. Half of them can go ahead. The others will come after. No more demands, girl. My patience is running out."

* * *

TBC

 _...Ruri is in trouble. Why she doesn't duel? Nine against one? The result is obvious, and if she were defeated she wouldn't be able to strike a bargain. If she had chosen to duel, Shun would have come rushing, right into the arms of the enemy and wounded!Judai and Yuto (as far as she knows) would have become a targets that couldn't even defend themselves. She'd have lost them. So Ruri took the route that might cost her but that allows her to at least protect what's more important to her than her life. I also think it takes guts to hold your own life at knife-point and demand_ do-as-I-say _._

 _Judai is out with exhaustion, mostly, and what happened to his hands is indeed hurtful energy getting to close to him for too long. That black haze that rises from the Yu-boys when they snap is indeed nothing to fool around with._

 _The fact that she is a target wasn't a thought that Ruri wanted to think about, and nothing that she could bring herself to voice when two of her friends were so bad off and they had more than enough other things on their minds. 50% was also in denial. So Ruri didn't think twice about separating. To be fair, it might even have been smart; they just fought off a team, who would have thought another would come so quickly. Yuri may have mentioned that she's a target before the situation escalated up in the bathroom, but compared to what happened after, it's didn't seem that important and Ruri had more important things occupying her mind. But she didn't forget about it. And she was willing to believe it enough to take this gamble. Which paid of, poor her._

 _One more chapter to go till the end of this Arc._


	29. II-II: we're alive

Part II-II

* * *

we're alive

* * *

The team that drags in her tent is battered, bruised and broken.

Rio hears the tale they spin in disconnected bits as the three swing between rage, shock, denial and guilt.

The boy, Yuto, stares at his hands for most of it as though he doesn't recognize his own hands.

From what Rio has to drag out of the other two she can see why. Rio has her own experience with hurting her friends, but she'd been well aware of her own actions. For her it had been planned, a deliberate blow to cut all bonds holding her back.

Judai's hands are only burned by the time they stand before her, but he's had to purge foreign energy from his system to do so much as twitch them.

And the deliberate counter to whatever possessed Yuto was the girl, Ruri, who'd been taken. Stolen. _A target_ , Yuto manages to recall at her questioning of them despite the holes in his memories. This Academia soldier, who suffered from the same state as Yuto, said he was to take her to some professor.

The Professor, Ruri manages to clarify.

From the unarmed Obelisk Force soldier Kurosaki Shun encountered once he went looking for his sister they get that Ruri is alive at least, her life so valuable to Academia that she managed to _bargain_ with it. _And_ to get her demands met.

Rio escorts the three to a place to rest personally, promising (and forcefully insisting) that once they were able to stand without leaning against something, she would put them to work that would (hopefully) get the girl back.

Before she lets them go, she takes the big brother to the side, fingers digging into his arm until enough reason returns to his madness clouded eyes to hear her. Then, she jerks her head at his friends, the last two he still has, and doesn't let him turn away. "Do you still have something to lose _?"_ she asks him, watching his expression carefully. Rage burns. "We _will_ save her," she tells him in a hiss, low and dangerous. "Academia doesn't get to _keep_ anything or anyone they took from us. We'll plan and get her back. Let it be enough that she is alive. The same won't go for those two. Do you care or do you not? Because I've seen things before, and unless you ground them, they'll get torn apart. _"_

By powers beyond mortal comprehension. Rio has had it with those, but they are apparently not done with her. Never mind Yuto, even Judai who seems to have some kind of idea and control about himself can just as easily lose it. Just because you can swim doesn't mean you can't drown. Rio doesn't want to lose anyone anymore, not even a stranger on the street and the only normal human of the trio seems to be her best chance at that. They are Heartland; they _will not lose,_ and certainly not to the ghosts in their own minds.

Shun - just Shun, who cares about stuff like formality anymore – twists away from her with force she didn't expect him to have, glowering. Then he smashes the door to the changing room in her face.

Rio's hands fist and she whirls on the spot. Losing a sibling.

Her dearest brother is an ever-present hole in her heart.

There is nothing she wouldn't do for him, and that fact had been taken advantage of more than once over the span of their lives. She didn't lose Nash, back when Vector used him against her and Durbe. But he lost her, and it broke him. The only reason he managed to go on was because Yuma was still around. Sworn enemy at that point, but a friend that Ryoga gravitated around like a sun nonetheless.

Rio hopes Shun cares enough about his remaining friends to stay sane. Otherwise...she meant what she said, Academia doesn't get to keep anything from them, but Rio can't afford a loose cannon. She must be able to rely on Shun. (On _every_ duelist. He's just a risky one.)

Now however Rio has time until the three wake up to make good on her word and come up with a plan or risk the powder keg that they turned into blowing up and possibly dragging what's left of Heartland down with them. First thing she does is send Durbe to find Vector.

…She'd been careless. To think that a mere girl would be a target of the enemy…

(The actions of Academia starting now will clear up if she was only one target or The target...)

Why?

How did they even know where to find her in the first place?

What could a force of inter-dimensional duelist soldiers want with a girl that has no special talents and no apparent gifts whatsoever. Yuma's Numbers choose her, but nowadays that says nothing other than that she has a strong spirit. She sits down in the single folding chair in her tent, taping notes into her duel disk.

In light of how the supply run turned out, Rio would not have been surprised if _Yuto_ had been their target. However on the other hand, when higher powers start to get involved, reason flies out of the window. By the scrambled memories they managed to recall for her, it seems that the girl is suspiciously keyed onto Yuto (or the power that took control of him and or its likeness) and there had never been a hint of anything special about her or her bracelet until something happened to her friend…

Unlike Yuto. But unless she is very mistaken, she can leave dealing with that mostly in Judai's hands; he is most invested and the closest, and (going by what she's read between the lines) has been working on it for some time.

Still, Rio does not like the picture that is forming. At all.

Flap of the tent pushed aside, Vector strolls in, looking well. Dust and ash aside of course. Invasion, mayhem, chaos; right up his alley. Rio bets he had the time of his life while everything around him burst into flames. Black pants with jiggling chains, loose shirt, perpetual smirk. "Yo, Princess. You called, here I am. Flying to your aid~"

As if. She levels an unamused stare at him. Durbe crosses his arms behind Vector, equally unimpressed.

"I've got a job for you," she says. "Nice and dangerous. Possibly suicidal. If you succeed it'd be a nice spit in the face."

Stuffing his hands into his pocket, he rises an eyebrow. "Yours? Or theirs?"

Rio's stare narrows. Slowly.

Vector smirks. "Just kidding. Nash would disembowel me." Despite her brother being dead or some variation thereof, of course. But what does death even mean for them? Former Barians, with a friend up in the Astral world. They won't know until they find out. Disembowelment might still be on the table. "Though it might be fun pushing him that far. Just for old times sake, you know...Somehow, I'm feeling really nostalgic."

"What a surprise," mutters Durbe. Death, destruction, chaos. Sprinkle of violence on top. Vector's favorite past time. "Behave yourself, Vector. We don't have time to put up with your antics."

"I want you to look for where they'll build their base. Then I want you to get inside and bring me information. Hardware, software, digital, I don't care. Pay special attention to the names 'Kurosaki Ruri' and 'Sato Yuto'. I want to know what Academia is after so that we can make sure they won't _ever_ get their hands on it."

Until now it hadn't been high priority, regrouping and gathering survivors and resources more important, and truthfully Rio would have liked some more time still, but Academia apparently isn't done with them. (As expected.) They have to get in contact with the other camps and mobilize some proper form of defense. Now. Their priorities must shift. Confirming allies and survivors must take second seat to self-defense now.

(Mizael was on the other side of the world, she remembers. He'd found another dragon ruin that he wanted to explore. Three had gone along with him, just as interested in a possible lost culture and just in case.)

(Girag and Alito she had seen and felt fight before just being _gone._ Not like dying, just gone. Like her brother. Like Yuma.)

(Astral must have felt Yuuma even if nothing else - If for some inexplicable reason the invasion of their world should have escaped him. But with Yuma gone, there's no way to open a gate between their worlds, and with so many dead the Astral World will be having its own crisis anyway. Damn it.)

(Galaxy-Eyes had fought, but only ever in a flash. Hopefully Kaito had avoided the fate that the others met, but even if not, Dr. Faker, Tron, Haruto and Chris ought to have secured the extensive underground laboratories. She hasn't heard back from Droite yet, who she'd sent to confirm...)

(If Four pulled something like a strategical retreat, Rio is going to hand over leadership to Vector. What happened to all her other friends – Cathy, Tetsuo, Tokunosuke, Takashi, Anna, others – she doesn't even have a hunch. She can only hope, and keep going.)

* * *

Sleeve pressed over his mouth for breathing, Judai stares down.

Under his feet, the remains of the mall are stable enough for climbing. It collapsed neatly, as though someone had simply swiped the lower floors out too quickly for the roof to tilt. The glass tiles that made up the large, sky-inviting windows in the roof are of course all broken, but the frame and the sides are safe to navigate – safer than the ground even, where they'd risk the ruins of buildings coming down on top of them.

He stares down at the building next to the mall.

At it's ruin.

Before he knows how it happened, he stands before what used to be colorfully painted walls, a small garden with a cherry tree and monkey bars.

Of the tree only a coal stem remains, a third of the size it used to have. The garden is a patch of ash gray, earth brown earth and rubble of the building, no grass in sight. A half destroyed doll of Makka's lies at Judai's feet, having been blown from the second story at some point. Of the building itself only the outer walls at the back and left are still standing. They way the orphanage is destroyed isn't natural – not from fire or earthquake or roof coming down on top. Rather, it looks like something big and heavy hit it from the right, went through walls and then dug itself back out to, presumably, get back into the fight.

Someone around here dueled, and the orphanage was pulled in as collateral.

The most intact part of the place that Judai called home with more feeling than he ever did the mansion are the monkey bars.

A ruin.

No Martha-san in sight. No warm welcome and home-made lunch. Nothing left.

He isn't even surprised.

 _You may want a ground to stand on,_ Yubel whispers in his mind, both comforting and demanding at the same time. _But you don't need it. You are stronger than this. You_ will _overcome it._

Maybe Marth-san wasn't in the house. Maybe she was. If she was, there's nothing for Judai left to do, if she wasn't he can't do anything for her either but hope that she made it to one of the other camps.

Judai feels nothing.

Just numbness.

Just chaffing hollowness.

"Are we done here?" Shun's impatient voice asks from behind, tone tight.

Judai turns his back to the house, seeing Shun and Yuto waiting at the property's border both also holding something in front of their face for breathing. The former, despite his tone, looks cold-faced at the ruin and not at Judai, while Yuto manages no expression whatsoever except tension in his shoulders.

"Yeah, lets go..." Rio-san had places for them to be.

Two days (or thereabout) after the end of the world, Heartland isn't burning anymore. But the sky hangs over them like a physical weight, not allowing a peek of sunlight though. Wind has started to blow again, but it changes nothing about the heaven.

It's dark, suffocating, and threatens to swallow them one after another.

* * *

The End Of Part II-II.

TBC

...but not for a while; not until I've got the whole of the next arc written.

Ruri is indeed gone now. Academia achieved it's primary objective and are now happy to, without needing to be careful, get on with hunting the survivors.


End file.
